This thesis studies the impact from HIV/AIDS on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. This is an important region for investigation since HIV/AIDS is more common in poor countries where economic growth levels are initially low. The theoretical framework for the analysis is the Solow Growth Model. The analysis also considers the impact on changes to human capital and adds this factor to the Solow equation. The analysis concludes that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has negative effects on per capita GDP growth through the parameters of the Solow Growth Model, including human capital. The thesis also deduces that the pandemic enhances income and gender inequality.

Over the years criminal prosecutions regarding HIV transmission have increased in Canada. There is ongoing debate within the academic and legal community regarding whether reactive, criminal justice measures or preventative, harm reduction measures are best suited to address HIV transmission. Using an on-line survey and multiple logistical regression analyses on six vignettes on 316 undergraduate students from mostly 18-26 years of age, this research assessed student attitudes towards the criminal law as a response to HIV transmission against demographic, experiential and attitudinal predictors. The findings indicated that the majority of participants were in favour of the criminalization of HIV transmission. The policy implications that come from this study imply that there is a need to educate young people about HIV related issues and the harm criminal justice responses cause to HIV prevention efforts. / UOIT

Background: Analyses of the individual-, social- and structural-level factors promoting the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne pathogens have consistently identified exposure to correctional environments, especially for individuals who use injection drugs (IDU), as a risk factor for infection. The objectives of this project were: to review the epidemiologic literature on incarceration and HIV infection among IDU, critically examining evidence presented supporting a causal linkage between imprisonment and infection; to investigate incarceration experiences in a cohort of active IDU; and to assess the possible effects of incarceration on the post-release risk environment of active IDU. Methods: Longitudinal datasets for quantitative analyses were derived from the Vancouver Injection Drug User Study (VIDUS) and the Scientific Evaluation of Supervised Injection (SEOSI), both prospective cohorts of IDU in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. In the first analysis, the prevalence and correlates of reporting incarceration in the the previous six months were identified in SEOSI using generalized estimating equations (GEE). In the second analysis, the possible effect of imprisonment on the prevalence of risk factors for HIV infection was estimated in VIDUS using linear growth curve analysis. Results: In the first analysis, 902 individuals interviewed at least once between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2006 were included. Overall, 423 (46.9%) reported an incarceration event at some point during the study period. In a multivariate GEE model, recent incarceration was independently associated with a number of high-risk factors, including syringe sharing. In the second analysis, 1603 individuals were interviewed at least once between 1 May 1996 and 31 December 2005 and in cluded. Of these, 147 (9.2%) matched the study criteria and were included as cases; 742 (46.3%) were included as matched controls. In linear growth curve analyses adjusted for age, gender and ethnicity, syringe sharing was significantly more common in the incarcerated group (p = 0.03) after incarceration than in the control group. Conclusions: Our findings support the existence of a role for incarceration in continued viral transmission. In response, appropriate harm reduction measures should be expanded within correctional environments and social, political and legal reforms enacted to reduce the incidence of imprisonment for individuals who use illicit drugs.

<strong>Background. </strong> Previous evidence suggests that persons who have emigrated from HIV-endemic countries experience higher rates of HIV infection and delayed diagnosis. Despite this evidence, limited research has examined HIV testing in these populations. <br /><br /> <strong>Objectives. </strong> To examine factors associated with HIV testing, as well as motivations underlying testing behaviour, within five East African communities in Toronto. <br /><br /> <strong>Methods. </strong> Secondary data analyses were conducted using cross-sectional data collected in face-to-face interviews with people from Toronto's Ethiopian, Kenyan, Somali, Tanzanian, and Ugandan communities. Logistic regression techniques were employed to assess factors associated with "ever vs. never testing," "repeat vs. non-repeat testing," and "independent vs. directive testing. " Reasons provided for testing and not testing were described. <br /><br /> <strong>Results. </strong> Individuals from all five communities were interviewed (n=270). Males were slightly over-represented (55. 9%). The average age was 35. 7 yrs (range 17-71). Three-quarters (75. 6%) of the sample had been tested for HIV. Two-thirds (65. 7%) of testers had tested more than once and 40. 7% had independently decided to get their most recent test. 71. 1% of testers reporting previous testing for immigration purposes. Testing behaviour varied greatly across communities. Ethnicity was predictive of "ever" and "repeat" testing. Risk behaviour (including multiple sex partners, concurrent sex partners, condom non-use, and/or improper condom use) was overwhelmingly not associated with testing. Fear of exposure through sexual activity was the most frequent reason for independent testing. Immigration authorities were the most common person to initiate directive testing, followed by physicians. Low perceived risk was the most common reason for not testing. <br /><br /> <strong>Conclusions. </strong> Testing rates within this population were quite high and the immigration process heavily impacted upon testing behaviour. Many determinants and motivations of testing have been identified and should be used to inform the design of interventions to promote testing behaviour in these communities. Nevertheless, many gaps have been identified by the current research and should be addressed by future research.

Introduktion: Idag lever nästan 7650 människor med HIV/AIDS i Sverige. Att leva med HIV/AIDS kan innebära fysiskt och psykiskt lidande. Sjuksköterskans bemötandeutgör en viktig del för att god vård skall upplevas. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att belysa hur patienter med HIV/AIDS upplever sjuksköterskans bemötande samt vilka konsekvenser detta kan ha för patienterna. Metod: Litteraturstudien utgick ifrån Polit och Becks modell i nio steg.  Litteratursökningen genomfördes i databaserna CINAHL och PubMed. Artiklarna genomgick flera urval och kvalitetsgranskningar vilket resulterade i åtta kvalitativa och två kvantitativ artikel. Artiklarnas innehåll analyserades och samband hittades och bildade underkategorier. Resultat: Litteraturstudiens resultat redovisas i följande kategorier: Att känna medmänsklighet och Kränkande särbehandling. Sjuksköterskans bemötande kan påverka patienten avseende positiva och negativa upplevelser vad gäller hopp, motivation samt känslan av ett värdigt liv. Slutsats: Många patienter upplevde sig bli orättvist och respektlöst behandlade av sjuksköterskan, vilket bidrog till att vissa patienter undvek att söka vård. De gånger som sjuksköterskan behandlade patienterna med värdighet och respekt fick patienterna hopp och motivation till framtiden. Sjuksköterskans kunskap om HIV/AIDS måste öka för att optimera vården av patienterna.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century Germany geopolitics can be characterized by its grand strategy as a civilian power. Germany has come to depend on a civilianized international system based on multilateralism, international institutions and the rule of law, supranational integration, free trade, and the restriction of the use of force as a means for international politics. Such a system requires the players in it to be peaceful and civilian, developed and cooperative, legitimate and law-abiding. Many African countries do not fulfill those conditions. Extremely high prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in Africa severely undermine social structure, economic development and political stability and thus contribute to state failure. State failure is in fundamental conflict with Germany's prime geopolitical interest in promoting a civilianized international system, because a failing state is incapable of creating civilianized structures. After analyzing Germany's foreign and development policies since World War II, I came to the conclusion that all German foreign policies aim at promoting a civilianized international system. I am arguing that development policies are part of broader foreign policies and thus pursue this goal with respect to developing countries. However, for the system itself it is much more important that the big players in the world are included and committed to it. Therefore, German foreign policy focuses on the major powers in the world and, just as developing countries play a minor role in international politics, development policies play a minor role in Germany's grand strategy as a civilian power. German grand strategy, however, plays a major role in the design and the conduct of German development policies, policies used as tools to pursue Germany's broader geopolitical interest in promoting a civilianized international system.

BAKGRUND: År 2009 uppskattade man att över 33 miljoner människor levde med hiv. Personer som lever med hiv omges av fördomar och riskerar att bli stigmatiserade av samhället och av denna anledning är det intressant att undersöka vilka attityder och uppfattningar sjuksköterskor och sjuksköterskestudenter har till dessa personer. SYFTE: Att belysa sjuksköterskors och sjuksköterskestudenters attityder och uppfattningar av personer med hiv/aids och till att vårda dessa personer. METOD: Litteraturstudien baseras på 14 kvalitativa och kvantitativa vetenskapliga artiklar, publicerade mellan år 1991 - 2011. Artiklarna har klassificerats och kvalitetsvärderats. RESULTAT: Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskor och sjuksköterskestudenter hade både positiva och negativa attityder. Positiva attityder visade på empati till patienterna medan negativa attityder ledde till sämre vårdkvalitet och kontaktundvikande av patienterna. Resultatet delades in i fem kategorier; attityder, utbildning, rädsla, empati och värderingar. DISKUSSION: Studien visar att det finns stora kunskapsluckor, vilket leder till rädsla och negativa attityder. Utbildning visade sig ha positiva effekter på attityder. SLUTSATS: För att öka vårdkvalitén hos patienterna så bör det satsas på mer utbildning om hiv/aids till sjuksköterskor och sjuksköterskestudenter.

The present study sought to expand current understandings of how and why participants identify with television characters, as well as how this identification is related to self-efficacy and safe sex intentions regarding HIV prevention. Based on the Entertainment Overcoming Resistance Model, it was expected that when viewers identify with characters in a media program, they would be less likely to counterargue or reject the HIV prevention Hkmessage, but more likely to have greater intentions and self-efficacy in modeling the behaviors shown in the program. This study also sought to understand whether these outcomes may be influenced by the gender of the participant. This study also examined ways of applying the EORM model to African American audiences. The levels of HIV/AIDS among African Americans make the need for prevention strategies for this specific community critical. This study sought a greater understanding of cultural influences, such as medical distrust. Medical distrust has been previously shown to influence responses of African American participants to health information messages. The African American sitcom One on One was chosen to show as a model of HIV prevention discussion and testing. The study included 142 participants. Following a pre-session survey, participants viewed the stimulus and responded to an online survey. Results showed that participants identified with the male and female lead characters in the program. A paired t-test revealed that females were more likely to identify with the female lead than they were with the male lead character. Medical distrust was related to greater counterarguing and lower self-efficacy to perform HIV prevention behaviors. Counterarguing against the message was low overall. Medical distrust did interact with identification in the prediction of counterarguing. However, counterarguing was not associated with less safe sex intentions. Identification with the characters in the program was related to greater self-efficacy for male participants. Self-efficacy was also related to greater safe sex intentions. Although identification was related to counterarguing and self-efficacy, these outcomes are also related to what aspects of the character viewers identify with and how they relate to the content of the media message.

Introduktion: Aquired Immunodefficiency Syndrome (AIDS) upptäcktes för första gången 1981 i Afrika, men existerade troligen redan tidigare. Bakgrund: Alla människor har rätt till lika vård på lika villkor och alla patienter ska bemötas med positiva attityder. Negativa attityder mot patienter med HIV/AIDS kan påverka vårdkvalitén. Syfte: Att belysa sjuksköterskans upplevelser av och attityder till att vårda patienter med HIV/AIDS. Metod: Litteraturstudie med 15 artiklar publicerade mellan 1995-2010. Artiklarna har klassificerats och kvalitetsvärderats. Resultaten har analyserats med hjälp av innehållsanalys. Resultat: Innehållsanalysen gav fyra kategorier och tolv subkategorier; upplevelser- ilska/frustration, rädsla, emotionella påfrestningar, positiva upplevelser., attityder- synen på patienter, medkänsla, bemötande, viljan att vårda., relationer- omvårdnadsrelationer, privata relationer., utbildning- behov av utbildning, utbildningens effekt. Diskussion: Ett stort behov av utbildning framkom som ett bifynd och utbildning visade sig ha positiva effekter på både upplevelser och attityder. Slutsats: För att öka vårdkvalitén för patienterna och trygghetskänslan hos sjuksköterskorna bör det satsas mer på utbildning inom området.

The message that is being preached on the streets on a daily basis is that HIV/AIDS has no cure and that it is a fatal disease. The AIDS pandemic is a serious problem, everybody's concern and nobody's fault. If not attended to accordingly and not controlled properly, the epidemic poses a serious threat to the whole nation, therefore every individual is faced with an enormous challenge, especially young people, since today's youths are tomorrow's future. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is continuing to rob both parents and their children of an opportunity of reaching their last mile of development which is old age. HIV/AIDS is not regarded to be the same as any other disease. The situation is getting out of hand as the HIV/AIDS victims are facing a double jeopardy of fighting for their lives, while at the same time, suffering from negative societal attitudes. They are being discriminated against, rejected, ill-treated and not treated with love and respect Therefore every individual is faced with the huge task of fighting this monster and creating a caring society. A supportive and enabling environment needs to be created so that HIV/AIDS victims can be treated similarly to any other patients. The aim of the study was to explore learners' knowledge of HIV/AIDS and determine their attitudes regarding people living with HIV/AIDS. From the research findings, it was found that learners are knowledgeable about the general facts on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but that their knowledge concerning certain aspects is limited to some extent, therefore it is deemed necessary to equip and empower them with more and relevant information. With regard to learners' attitudes, it was found that learners have fair and positive attitudes towards people living with AIDS. It is recommended that these positive attitudes and fair knowledge of learners must be sustained. The most effective way to attain this is though education, and schools are the appropriate places to teach young people about HIV prevention. Here they can receive information and skills. It is further recommended that more HIV/AIDS programmes be developed to increase awareness and knowledge with the intention of educating people to recognize and avoid high-risk behaviour. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.