International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research ISSN 2351-8014 Vol. 9 No. 1 Sep. 2014, pp. 1-8 © 2014 Innovative Space of Scientific Research Journals http://www.ijisr.issr-journals.org/ Corresponding Author: T. N. Elias 1 Relationship between quality of care for people living with HIV/AIDS and socio-economic variables: A case of Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania T. N. Elias 1 , R. N. Masako 2 , and S. S. Mhango 1 1 Assistant Lecturer, Department of Gender and Development (CDTI – Tengeru), Tanzania 2 Nutrition Officer, Mbeya Municipal Council, Tanzania Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: Assessment of the relationship between quality of care provided to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and socio-economic variables was undertaken in Morogoro Municipality whereby a cross-sectional survey approach was adopted. Ninety PLWHA from two NGOs that are well known to support PLWHA in Morogoro Municipality were involved. Data were collected through face to face interviews. Descriptive and inferential methods of data analysis were used. Six variables were tested to determine their relationship with the quality of care in three components of care. Results showed that counseling and testing was significantly influenced by only the duration of living with the virus while medical care was affected by age and education level of respondents. The communication and behaviour change component was affected by respondents’ age and marital status. It is therefore recommended that education be strengthened to PLWHA and even the care providers that high quality of care is essential to all PLWHA regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds so as to improve the quality of and prolong their lives. KEYWORDS: HIV/AIDS, PLWHA, counseling, opportunistic infection, behaviour change. 1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION HIV/AIDS stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome whereas; AIDS is the fatal clinical condition that results from long-term infection with HIV. History shows that AIDS came into public consciousness in the early 1980s as a disease that was primarily affecting white male homosexuals in the Bay area of San Francisco (Almond, 1990). Currently, HIV/AIDS is a world’s greatest threat causing deaths largely among the productive young adults (UNAIDS, 2006). However, the Sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania inclusive, remains the hardest hit region by HIV/AIDS. Almost 70% of the world’s people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) live in this region (Amfar, 2014). In 2011, Tanzania was estimated to have 1.6 million PLWHA (Avert, 2014). Currently, the overall prevalence rate in the country is 5.1% whereby, it is 6.2% and 3.8% in females and males respectively (TACAIDS, 2012). The relationship between HIV and AIDS and socio-economic development is complex. On one hand, HIV and AIDS negatively affect economic growth and on the other hand, the weak economy makes it difficult for nations and individuals to mount adequate and comprehensive responses to the epidemic. In addition, poverty is a co-factor to the spread of HIV and AIDS. Deaths due to AIDS have reduced agricultural labour force, productivity and disposable incomes in many families in rural areas. HIV/AIDS also leads to reduced capacity to deliver social responsibilities because of illness (RCQHS, 2003). Socially, death of a young adult means loss of a father or/and a mother who are the main family income earners, leaving the care burden to the old (grandparents). This tends to increase poverty and food insecurity within the family whereby, orphans not only get deprived of material, social and emotional priviledge, but also lack the opportunity for education and health care. Widows and orphans are deprived of their inheritance rights by relatives through the application of oppressive traditional practices and customary laws. The widows are often blamed for the premature deaths of their husbands and