Managing decisions on income sharing and expenditure
We found that households had different ways of managing their income. Managing income was determined by decisions people made towards sharing of expenditure, either (a) individually; (b) through ‘selective pooling’ or (c) in an unstructured manner.For households managing incomes individually, each person in the household would decide on their earned income independently without consulting or sharing their finances with other members of the household. This was common in households without dependents or children. For instance, Dayson (34, male), living with his father who is also living with HIV, noted that:I support myself, I make sure that I don’t go to bed without food. It’s my fault if I don’t eat. My father goes and borrows money for himself or sometimes would eat at his people [other relatives] where he normally goes (Dayson, 34, Male).In some households, people decided on income through what we term as ‘selective pooling’. This includes instances where people decided according to their own discretion, to keep a percentage of their earned resources for themselves, while contributing a certain or predetermined amount to the shared expenses of the household. Xolisa (52, male) described how he shared expenses for the household with his wife:At home what I pay for are clothing accounts and focus on children’s expenses and their school things. Anything related to children depends on me. Groceries, rent, and electricity are handled by my wife (Xolisa, 52, Male).At times, people would still share their income with others but decisions were not predetermined or discussed before spending. This manner of managing income was unstructured as members were not required and/or expected to contribute but would still cover expenses according to their own discretion. This was often the case when children shared a household with their parents, or when young people shared a household. For example, Khumbuza (29, female), living with her brother and sister explained that:We don’t decide [on money] but a person buys what someone else couldn’t buy. My brother doesn’t like talking about stuff concerning his money. When he’s about to get paid he just looks what’s there and what’s not there then when he comes back from work he just buys those things (Khumbuza, 29, Female).These three ways in which income management was decided affected the ability of PLHIV to access and adhere to HIV treatment. The power of deciding on income depended on the relationship people had in the household. Households with ‘pooled’ resources differed from those with individual sources in a sense that they had a strong support system, while those with individual sources were mostly dysfunctional.