Child labour in the Era of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of Tanzania

Abstract

Exploitation of child labour is an endemic problem in sub-Saharan Africa. The situation is increasingly worsening due to increasing poverty and HIV/AIDS. We carried out a study to understand how the AIDS epidemic facilitates the presence of child labour in Iringa Rural District in Tanzania. The findings revealed that children opt for early participation in the labour force due to the ever-increasing poverty existing at their household level. There is a correlation between poverty and HIV/AIDS in general, and particularly between HIV/AIDS and the poor socio-economic condition of orphans. Current interventions to stop child labour do not yield good results because of low level of awareness on child labour issues at village levels. The government and its partners, such as ILO, should improve the coordination between the district and the communities (villages) in order to make sure that communities at the village level are reached and assisted. Furthermore, reducing rural poverty is imperative if child labour is to be eliminated. Kinderarbeit in der Epoche von HIV/AIDS im subsaharischen Afrika: Eine Fallstudie aus TanzaniaZusammenfassung: Ausbeutung von Kinderarbeit ist ein endemisches Problem im subsaharischen Afrika. Die Situation wird durch die Phänomene der steigenden Armut und durch HIV/ AIDS noch verschlechtert. Die Autoren untersuchten in einer Studie, wie die AIDS-Epidemie das Phänomen der Kinderarbeit in Iringa, einer ländlichen Region Tanzanias, fördert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Kinder eine frühzeitige Teilnahme an der Erwerbsarbeit wegen der ständig steigenden Armut im eigenen Haushalt anstreben. Es gibt eine generelle Korrelation zwischen Armut und Ausbreitung von HIV/AIDS, insbesondere zwischen HIV/AIDS und den schlechten sozioökono-mischen Bedingungen von Waisen. Aktuelle Interventionen, um Kinderarbeit zu kontrollieren, erzielen wegen des mangelnden Verständnisses der Problematik von Kinderarbeit in den ländlichen Dorfgemeinschaften nur geringe Effekte. Die Regierung und unterstützende Institutionen wie die ILO sollten eine bessere Koordination zwischen Bezirks-und Dorfverwaltungen anstreben, um sicherzustellen, dass entsprechende Bemühungen in den Dörfern aufgebaut und unterstützt werden. Darüber hinaus kann eine Einschränkung von Kinderarbeit keinesfalls ohne eine Reduktion der ländlichen Armut erreicht werden. Schlagwörter: Kinderarbeit · HIV/AIDS · Subsaharisches Afrika · Ethnographie ÖZS 35 (2010) 2:8-22

Are Working Children in Developing Countries Hidden Victims of Pandemics?

“…However, the association between child labour and pandemics has been selected due to its importance. The study concludes that as for the relation between previous pandemics and child labour, it was observed that there was increased interest in the African countries (e.g., Nyambedha et al 2003;Lugalla and Sigalla 2010;Evans 2012;Sorsa and Abera 2016), including the post-war economies (e.g., Save the Children/UNICEF/World Vision/Plan International 2015; Ngegba and Mansaray 2016;Yoder-van den Brink 2019;Smith 2020). On the contrary, the researchers who investigated the impact of COVID-19 on child labour mostly focused on the case of the Asian economies (e.g., Chopra 2020;Larmar et al 2020;Ramaswamy and Seshadri 2020;Kaur and Byard 2021;Daly et al 2021).…”

“…Finally, insufficient protection services were observed in several developing countries and this was related to child labour (e.g., Chopra 2020; Kaur and Byard 2021). Finally, certain researchers have predicted that the recent pandemic could lead to children's exploitation (e.g., Greenbaum et al 2020;Nguyen et al 2020) and increases in child labour due to high poverty rates (ILO/UNICEF 2020; Lugalla and Sigalla 2010;Ramaswamy and Seshadri 2020).…”

“…However, their study did not focus exclusively on the association between the two variables, but mainly on children that worked in regions in which malaria was endemic. Lugalla and Sigalla (2010) argued that in Tanzania there was little awareness of working children, mainly in rural areas. They suggested that the government and international organizations should cooperate to reduce rural poverty and therefore eliminate child labour.…”