With the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa maturing, more and more
critically ill patients are in desperate need for therapy. The health care workers
are often caught between the overwhelming demand for care and
obstacles caused by a lack of funds, confusing political messages and cultural
barriers. The author analyses the existing literature on dilemmas faced by
health carers in HIV-care since the beginning of the epidemic in the early
1980s. Nine interviews with nurses and doctors at an HIV treatment facility
in South Africas North West Province suggest that the burden by the high
work...