People living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have been stigmatized since the epidemic began. Evidence suggests that stigma and discrimination contribute towards perpetuating the epidemic. South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. Reducing stigmatization may therefore be an important factor in reducing new HIV infections. Studies in other countries have shown that people who possess inaccurate knowledge regarding the way HIV is transmitted have a greater tendency to stigmatize. Furthermore it was found that people who stigmatize are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour and to perceive themselves to be at low risk of contracting HIV. Wave 2 of the Transition to Adulthood study which took place in 2001 interviewed 4185 young people in KwaZulu-Natal on their sexual behaviour. This present study has linked respondent’s levels of HIV transmission knowledge to their stigmatizing attitudes. It was found that accurate knowledge had a significant impact on stigmatizing attitudes. Those respondents who possessed less knowledge were significantly more likely to stigmatize. Differences between levels of stigmatizing were also evident between race groups. Characteristics important to HIV prevention such as condom use and HIV testing were also linked to knowledge and stigmatizing. Respondents who had less knowledge and thus a greater tendency to stigmatize were more likely to have adverse attitudes towards using condoms. These respondents were therefore more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This study explored the social networks and social support of parents in Embo and Molweni, two villages of KwaDedangendlale outside Durban. The study is part of a larger South African project, CHAMP-SA (Collaborative HN/AIDS Adolescent Mental Health Project). CHAMP-SA is an adaptation of CHAMP which originated in the USA. CHAMP works with pre-adolescents and their families in addressing parenting issues with the aim of re-establishing the adult protective shield for these children. The current study evaluates the social network component of the pilot phase of CHAMP-SA. The first part of the current study was quantitative and employed a repeated measures quasi-experimental design intervention with both the experimental and control groups. The second, qualitative part used individual interviews to interrogate the results of the quantitative data. Content analysis was used to determine what factors impeded or enhanced the process of social networking. Bronfenbrenner's Systemic Ecological Theoretical Model was used to understand these at a personal, interpersonal and community level. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

Background: Surgical disease related to HIV is scantily documented with a paucity of data detailing the manifestations of HIV in surgery especially in resource-poor, high prevalence settings such as in South Africa. This review provides an update on the topical issues surrounding HIV and surgery. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the incidence, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, aspects of diagnosis and management of: HIV- associated salivary gland disease in particular parotid gland enlargement; Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) and lower limb lymphoedema; AIDS- related abdominal malignancies due to KS and lymphoma; Acalculous cholecystitis and HIV- cholangiopathy and HIV- associated vasculopathy. Methods: A collective review of the literature was performed and data sourced from a search of relevant electronic medical databases for literature from the period 2000 to the present date. Studies under each section were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Content analysis was used to analyse data. Results: The HIV pandemic has resulted in an increased frequency of benign lymphoepithelial cysts making it the commonest cause of parotidomegaly in most surgical practices. KS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a patient with chronic lymphoedema. Lymphoedema may be present without cutaneous lesions, making clinical diagnosis of KS difficult. The gastrointestinal tract is the commonest site of extra- cutaneous KS. Surgical management of the lymphoma patient is restricted nowadays to determining the diagnosis and in some cases to evaluate disease stage. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is an important part of the management of biliary tract conditions in addition to relevant surgical procedures. HIV- vasculopathy represents a distinct clinico- pathological entity characterized by a vasculitis with probable immune- mediated or direct HIV- related injury to the vessel wall. Conclusion: The rising incidence of HIV in South Africa and other developing countries has been associated with new and unusual disease manifestations requiring surgical management for diagnostic, palliative or curative intent. It is crucial that surgeons remain abreast of new developments related to the challenging spectrum of HIV and its protean manifestations. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Sexuality is made relevant in the way language is used as a matter of the identity of a group or individuals. Sex, for human beings, is not merely instinctive behaviour. It is meaningful-cultural behaviour and as such is semiotically loaded with meaning. Listening and talking about sex highlights conventions, taken-for-granted assumptions about the way things have to be done. Language as the most powerful representational system shapes our understanding of what we do and how we do them in relation to sex. Our understanding of sexual scripts about the sexuality of a particular group of people is through language as a signifying practice. The study of listening and talking is not merely an investigation of how sex is talked about, but how respondents enact sexuality and sexual identity vis-à-vis its linguistically loaded forms of representations in a variety of discourse genres. Representation and its inherent process of signification draws on lived experiences and the daily talk of people in interaction. A theoretical perspective is presented not as a model to be tested, but as testimony to the rich literature on the nature and function of language as a political arena, semiotically loaded with meanings that are taken for granted. It is concluded that the appropriation of cultural myths is encoded in language and as such language is a legitimate area of inquiry especially in understanding sexual scripts in the context HIV/AIDS. The study engages reported high risk sexual encounters such as multiple and concurrent partnerships, as well as unsafe sex practices which have been identified in literature as fanning the embers of the epidemic. Ideologies influencing developing communication campaigns in light of these discourses become a serious challenge as the conventional basis for such campaigns is in socio-cognitive theories, few of which can be assumed to apply with regard to the discursive representations of sexual practices and the inherent risks. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 1400 students on seven campuses, conceptually triangulated via focused-ethnography, listening analysis and discourse analysis, this research examines perceptions, interpretations, attitudes, and practices of sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The research is a multi-method and inter-disciplinary approach located within cultural studies to interrogate the gap between knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour modification in the light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This research discusses these findings and offers a critical appraisal of sexual behaviour in the context of ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise) as ideologically encoded in cultural and relational myths. I found that students are sexually active with reported multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships. Postgraduate students were less likely to report having had used a condom at their last coital encounter compared with the often younger undergraduate students. Condom use continues to be a norm in the universities surveyed. This is truer for students who reported multiple sexual partnerships. Amongst the dominant scripts that came out in the ethnographic inquiry are: sex as uncontrollable biological drive; females are responsible for safe sex practices; strong social scripts elevate male sexual prowess and show disdain for female affirmative sexualities, risk is discounted using a form of post modern fatalism (resistance to regulation); and physical status, based on appearance of a possible partner, is used to select ‘sexually safe’ partners. I have concluded that a deeper understanding of the cultural and sexual scripts obtained from students is critical for appropriate design and implementation of interventions aimed at stemming the tide of the HIV epidemic. I have also demonstrated that interventions that only emphasise the rational dimensions of human behaviour are more likely to miss their target audience as sex is more than a choice of Cartesian rationality (linear choice). / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This thesis explores the problem of sexual behaviour change in a country which has the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. Despite awareness of HIV, and knowledge of protective behaviours, many young South Africans still engage in risky sexual practices, exposing themselves to risk of HIV infection. This lack of behaviour change by people who know the risks involved is the focus of this thesis. I begin by developing a critique of the dominant behaviour change theories which underpin HIV and AIDS interventions, and the way in which they conceptualise the relationship between the individual and society. These theories assume a universal, rational individual who engages in decision-making before action, or is prevented by problematic factors of ‘context’ (e.g. poverty, culture, gender dynamics) from engaging in appropriate protective health decisions. This conceptualisation of behaviour is inadequate in understanding the problem of behaviour change. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), with its roots in the theories of Marx, Engels, Vygotsky and Leontiev, enables a different gaze on the problem of behaviour change, shifting the primary focus from cognition to activity. This provides an alternative dialectical conceptualisation of the relationship between the individual and society. In this thesis I articulate and extend the methodology inherent in CHAT. In a study conducted in a rural area in South Africa I recruited qualitative research processes to explore the cultural-historical context of early sexual experiences leading to intercourse; and the participants’ experiences of sexual activity in relation to HIV and AIDS. The conceptual and methodological tools inherent in CHAT enabled the production of the context of sexual activity. The focus on sexual activity as the central object unit and the analysis of the activity system illuminated the activity of sex as a social practice, produced and enacted within particular interpersonal, social and historical dynamics. Through an historical and current contextualisation of sexual activity CHAT-based analysis of the data enabled an articulation of contradictions and turbulence within the activity system. The problem of a lack of behaviour change is understood through this production of context. Activity system analysis revealed how the introduction of the injectable contraceptive gendered the division of labour in sexual activity. An analysis of the relationship between the subject and the object of the activity system revealed a phalocentric identity investment as an outcome of sexual activity. This analysis also illustrated the relative invisibility of HIV compared to pregnancy as a negative outcome of sexual activity. These dynamics of the activity system structure power and resistance to change in the interaction. By accounting for the status of the activity system this analysis facilitated an understanding of a lack of behaviour change in response to HIV and AIDS. This research process forms the basis for a tentative proposal for intervention using the CHAT-based Change Laboratory approach. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2006. / The HIV/AIDS pandemic poses one of the greatest challenges to business development in South Africa. The hotel industry is growing rapidly and will be . significantly affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The purpose of this study was to determine the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) regarding HIV/AIDS of staff from nine Protea group hotels in Cape Town. A sample of 200 hotel staff was randomly selected to participate. A structured self-administered anonymous questionnaire was the instrument used to collect the data. The response rate was 81%. There were more females than males, and the majority of the respondents were between the ages of 21-30 years. More than half of the respondents were single, hotel managers and with matriculation as the highest qualification. The respondents demonstrated a reasonably good knowledge on the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Almost half of the respondents believed that HIV/AIDS would not affect the hotel industry. The survey revealed conflicting results on whether HIV-infected staff should be involved in food preparation, and whether staff should serve food to HIV positive hotel guests. There were also concerns of the risk of infection when handling dirty linen used by HIV-infected hotel guests. More males than females were currently sexually active and reported having more than one partner in the past three years. The majority of the respondents believed that condoms were effective, but only one third reported the use of a condom every time they had a sexual encounter. There was a significant relationship between knowledge and attitudes (p-value<0.05, but none between knowledge and practice and attitude and practice. It is recommended that the hotel industry develop effective workplace policies and supportive environments, and that on-going HIV/AIDS education and prevention programmes be implemented to change high risk sexual behaviour and practices.

Due to its rapid spreading, AIDS has been declared a global epidemic. Especially sub-Saharan Africa has been the most affected by the epidemic. South Africa is no exception to the devastating impact of the epidemic. Over the past few years, HIV-prevention initiatives have been underway on a full scale in an effort to combat the destructive powers of the epidemic in the country. These initiatives appear to have adopted a health-belief approach in their strategies to decrease HIV-infections. This approach to HIV-prevention assumes that the desired behavior change, namely increasing safe sexual practices and decreasing high-risk HIV/AIDS behavior, can be achieved through rational decision-making based on knowledge of the disease and its consequences. The findings of the studies on sexual behavior and HIV/AIDS such as KAPB (knowledge, attitudes, practice and beliefs) studies appear to reaffirm the fact that knowledge alone is neither sufficient nor effective in bringing about the appropriate behavior change to combat HIV/AIDS. These studies point towards a high level of knowledge about AIDS in the general population, yet the ever increasing infection rate remains undeterred. The ANC came to power in 1994 after 10 years of National Party inaction with regard to AIDS. The National AIDS plan, endorsed by incoming minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was insufficiently informed by the institutional and social realities of South Africa. Like other policy blueprints of this period, it over-estimated the economic, and especially human, resources at the disposal of incoming government. Moreover, this avowedly multi-sect oral HIV/AIDS plan, designated a “presidential lead project”, was situated in a national department of health in the throes of transformation. Because health is in part a provincial prerogative, AIDS was vulnerable to further administrative obstruction in a second tier of bureaucracy from the previous regime. Competing claims on resources in the poorer provinces, the demands of administrative reconfiguration, and very uneven provincial capacity, further undermined implementations.

A dissertation submitted in full compliance with the requirements for a Masters Degree in Technology: Nursing at Durban Institute of Technology, 2005. / There has been an increase in child/girl rape in South Africa, Statistics of child rape have shown that a child was being raped every 25 minutes in South Africa (Child Protection Unit, S.AP.S., 1999). The numbers of child rapes has increased from 12% in 1998 to 19,94% in 2001 (Taylor, 2002). Reports indicated that in some instances, child rape was being carried out as a cure for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Kufwa, 1998). / M

At present there is no cure or vaccine for Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) therefore prevention programmes are seen as the only means of reducing the spread of the disease. HIV/AIDS education programmes in schools have been identified as the most effective intervention because billions of children can be reached worldwide and because schools are the one social institution with which most children come into contact. Young people in particular have been identified as the age group most in need of a preventative programme. The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of grade six and seven learners with regard to the Life Skills programme focusing on HIV/AIDS education in the Port Elizabeth region. In order to fulfill the above aim a qualitative study was undertaken within an exploratory descriptive approach. A non-probability, convenient sample of six schools were selected. Focus groups, utilising an unstructured interview, were used to gather qualitative data about the perceptions of grade six and seven learners. The focus groups consisted of 10-12 participants. The data was thematically analysed using Tesch’s approach. The major findings of the present study included the following: 1. Learners’ perceptions of completing the questionnaire were generally positive in nature. Negative perceptions related to practical issues such as the length of the questionnaire and the time of administration. 2. Learner’s perceptions of the programme were generally positive. 3. Learners’ felt more comfortable discussing HIV/AIDS with parents and teachers. xi 4. Learners’ appeared to be well informed about high-risk behaviour related to HIV/AIDS and existing myths. 5. Contact with HIV+ people is non-existent. However, learner’s felt that the programme had fostered positive attitudes towards HIV+ people. 6. Learner’s felt that schools had an important role to play in sharing information about HIV/AIDS. These findings seem to indicate positive outcomes for the programme as a whole, in that is was successful in terms of conveying information regarding HIV/AIDS; it led to positive changes in attitudes, especially towards HIV+ people; and it confirmed the school as the best setting for implementing HIV/AIDS Life Skills programmes.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master in Technology: Education, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / As the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa accelerates, HIV sero-prevalence studies report increasing risk among young people in the general population. These young people are found predominantly in schools. It is for this reason that the researcher embarked on this study. The emphasis of the study is to evaluate the management of HIV/AIDS in secondary public schools in South Africa, particularly, an overview of the policy / M