Teachers are often in contact with children whose family members are affected or infected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, or children themselves who are affected or infected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Often, it is teachers themselves who are suffering due to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. School training and tertiary training are one of the most important components, which need a lot of attention in a developing country. Teachers play a very important role in developing the youth’s thoughts. School training is often negatively impacted due to absenteeism of teachers, negative attitudes of teachers and the time wasted to replace teachers who are negatively impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic or who take medical discharge. Teachers often don’t know how to handle the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and they are also unaware of resources available in this regard. The REds-programme is a support programme designed for teachers who are affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The aim of the REds-programme is to provide teachers with support so that they will be able to handle the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The focus is specifically on teachers, as they don’t live or work in isolation. Teachers form part of communities and school units whom are directly impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The REds-programme was vi implemented in 2004. This programme is thus running, tested and still in the process of testing, for the past six years. Article 1 consists of the following: The nature and content of the REds-programme. The group work process, as well as a discussion of each group work session. Article 2 consists of the following: An evaluation of the REds-programme by means of the qualitative and quantitative results obtained. From the results, it is clear that the REds-programme is a very effective programme from which life orientation teachers can benefit. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The objectives of this research were investigate the lived experiences of school-going learners who are HIV-positive; and develop ecosystemic management strategies to help learners who are HIV-positive. The literature research investigation revealed that HIV/AIDS is not just a health problem but also attacks the education system itself. Demand for education is dropping and changing, many educators are ill and dying, and the trauma of loss associated with HIV/AIDS is entrenched in South African classrooms. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has a traumatic impact on all educators and learners. The work of educators both those who are HIV positive and those who have developed full-blown AIDS will be compromised by periods of illness. The pandemic thrives on sexual violence, male domination and child abuse in South Africa. It is the ecosystemic paradigm that helps in seeing the connecting link between family-school-community-society-world or school and peers and this helps in providing a more useful synergistic focus than trying to work in isolation with discrete segments of a microsystem for example, with an individual in isolation. Management strategies for dealing with HIV/AIDS include the notion that achieving sustainability requires bringing together a variety of legitimate stakeholders, drawing on a variety of accepted bodies of knowledge, to negotiate a learning path based on a series of conflict resolutions within ecological constraints. Continual learning based on free flow of information and mutual respect, and investment in effective management of HIV/AIDS are keys to success. The empirical research investigation revealed that psychologically disturbed, emotional well-being, spiritual well-being, physical well-being, social life, their scholastic performance, daily routine, there is a change in their behaviour or health after the HIV- positive status has been revealed, they fear of death, their academic performance at school is affected by absenteeism and lack of concentration, there is absence of strategies to assist learners who are absent frequently because of illness, they loose valued level of functioning, lack assistance at school, fear being discriminated or ridiculed, there is absence v of measures to deal with discrimination at school, there is a lack of information on HIV/AIDS, learners fear disclosing to friends and teachers, there is a lack of communication between parents and infected learners about issues regarding HIV/AIDS. Educators are also affected emotionally, spiritually and physically. They become affected socially and they do not cope with the impact of HIV. The level of communicating the HIV/AIDS pandemic within the schools is low, the principals are not doing much as leaders to supplement this low level of communicating about HIV/AIDS, school policies on HIV/AIDS in these schools do not address issues of support for learners and educators who are incapacitated because of HIV/AIDS, there is no monitoring tool used in these schools to ensure HIV-policy adherence, principals in these schools do not ensure that educators teach learners about matters pertaining to HIV/AIDS, health programmes in these schools do not assist learners living with HIV/AIDS within the school and the level of accepting and accommodating infected learners and the personnel in these schools is low. The level of involvement of community members in matters pertaining to HIV/AIDS in these schools is low. An ecosysternic management system is proposed in this research vi / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

The objectives of this research were investigate the lived experiences of school-going learners who are HIV-positive; and develop ecosystemic management strategies to help learners who are HIV-positive. The literature research investigation revealed that HIV/AIDS is not just a health problem but also attacks the education system itself. Demand for education is dropping and changing, many educators are ill and dying, and the trauma of loss associated with HIV/AIDS is entrenched in South African classrooms. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has a traumatic impact on all educators and learners. The work of educators both those who are HIV positive and those who have developed full-blown AIDS will be compromised by periods of illness. The pandemic thrives on sexual violence, male domination and child abuse in South Africa. It is the ecosystemic paradigm that helps in seeing the connecting link between family-school-community-society-world or school and peers and this helps in providing a more useful synergistic focus than trying to work in isolation with discrete segments of a microsystem for example, with an individual in isolation. Management strategies for dealing with HIV/AIDS include the notion that achieving sustainability requires bringing together a variety of legitimate stakeholders, drawing on a variety of accepted bodies of knowledge, to negotiate a learning path based on a series of conflict resolutions within ecological constraints. Continual learning based on free flow of information and mutual respect, and investment in effective management of HIV/AIDS are keys to success. The empirical research investigation revealed that psychologically disturbed, emotional well-being, spiritual well-being, physical well-being, social life, their scholastic performance, daily routine, there is a change in their behaviour or health after the HIV- positive status has been revealed, they fear of death, their academic performance at school is affected by absenteeism and lack of concentration, there is absence of strategies to assist learners who are absent frequently because of illness, they loose valued level of functioning, lack assistance at school, fear being discriminated or ridiculed, there is absence v of measures to deal with discrimination at school, there is a lack of information on HIV/AIDS, learners fear disclosing to friends and teachers, there is a lack of communication between parents and infected learners about issues regarding HIV/AIDS. Educators are also affected emotionally, spiritually and physically. They become affected socially and they do not cope with the impact of HIV. The level of communicating the HIV/AIDS pandemic within the schools is low, the principals are not doing much as leaders to supplement this low level of communicating about HIV/AIDS, school policies on HIV/AIDS in these schools do not address issues of support for learners and educators who are incapacitated because of HIV/AIDS, there is no monitoring tool used in these schools to ensure HIV-policy adherence, principals in these schools do not ensure that educators teach learners about matters pertaining to HIV/AIDS, health programmes in these schools do not assist learners living with HIV/AIDS within the school and the level of accepting and accommodating infected learners and the personnel in these schools is low. The level of involvement of community members in matters pertaining to HIV/AIDS in these schools is low. An ecosysternic management system is proposed in this research vi / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

Teachers are often in contact with children whose family members are affected or infected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, or children themselves who are affected or infected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Often, it is teachers themselves who are suffering due to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. School training and tertiary training are one of the most important components, which need a lot of attention in a developing country. Teachers play a very important role in developing the youth’s thoughts. School training is often negatively impacted due to absenteeism of teachers, negative attitudes of teachers and the time wasted to replace teachers who are negatively impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic or who take medical discharge. Teachers often don’t know how to handle the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and they are also unaware of resources available in this regard. The REds-programme is a support programme designed for teachers who are affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The aim of the REds-programme is to provide teachers with support so that they will be able to handle the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The focus is specifically on teachers, as they don’t live or work in isolation. Teachers form part of communities and school units whom are directly impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The REds-programme was vi implemented in 2004. This programme is thus running, tested and still in the process of testing, for the past six years. Article 1 consists of the following: The nature and content of the REds-programme. The group work process, as well as a discussion of each group work session. Article 2 consists of the following: An evaluation of the REds-programme by means of the qualitative and quantitative results obtained. From the results, it is clear that the REds-programme is a very effective programme from which life orientation teachers can benefit. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has dramatically altered patterns of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa during the last two decades. In the absence of HIV vaccine, microbicides may offer viable option for protection against HIV infection. Microbicides are products that are applied topically inside the vagina or rectum that act to impede transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Small human chemokines such as RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted) are currently been investigated as microbicides candidates. A number of N-terminally modified RANTES analogues such as 5P12 and 6P4 with a much higher antiviral potency have been developed and they have strong potential for use as microbicides. Since plants offer an alternative option for cost effective production of protein therapeutics, we evaluated the feasibility of expressing 5P12 and 6P4 in Nicotiana benthamiana species. 5P12 is considered the most promising candidate for use in the microbicide pipeline because it inhibits HIV infection through cellular receptor antagonism. Hence its feasibility of expression was also evaluated in Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato). The two analogues were transiently expressed in the selected plant species via agrobacterium-mediated transfection. For expression in N. benthamiana, two different vectors (pTRA and MagnICON) were used to deliver the two analogues for transient expression. About 6-8 weeks-old N. benthamiana plants were agroinfiltrated via needle injection and vacuum infiltration methods and targeted to four subcellular compartments viz: apoplast, chloroplast, cytosol and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The agroinfiltrated leaves were replanted, grown in a tissue culture laboratory and harvested after different periods. For expression in L. esculentum, the MagnICON constructs were used to deliver the 5P12 gene into four different developmental stages of tomato fruits viz: mature green (MG), breaker (B), pink (P) and ripe (R) via needle injection. The agroinjected tomato fruits were incubated in a dark cupboard and harvested after different periods. xiii Proteins were extracted from the harvested material and evaluated for 5P12 and 6P4 expression. ELISA results showed expression of 5P12 and 6P4 in N. benthamiana leaves which was detectable at 3-9 days post infiltration (dpi). Similar results were obtained for 5P12 and 6P4, consequently only results for 5P12 are reported. The vacuum infiltrated leaves of both pTRA and MagnICON constructs led to higher yields than the needle injected leaves. The highest yields were obtained with the MagnICON constructs. The highest 5P12 expression level of 603 μg/kg fresh weight leaf tissues (~0.024% TSP) was obtained in the apoplast at 9 dpi. The pTRA constructs had the highest expression levels of 0.63μg/kg FW in the cytosol at 3 dpi. 5P12 was also detectable at 3-9 dpi in L. esculentum, based on ELISA results. The highest 5P12 expression of 23.56 μg/kg FW and pH 4.75 tissues was obtained at the MG stage in the apoplast at 9 dpi. Western blot analysis confirmed the size of plantmade 5P12. Moreover, the plant extracts had anti-viral activity and were not toxic to TZM-bl cells. Our results show that the RANTES can be made in both N. benthamiana and L. esculentum and that the levels are not different from other systems reported previously. Furthermore, this is the first report that a chemokine has been expressed in plants. The quantities expressed were low making the commercial development of a microbicide from these species impractical. However, production of bulky leaf material may enhance the quantities. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Paraclinical Sciences / unrestricted

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">Within this thesis, the author recognizes that the technocratic thinking about AIDS Silin warned against has become the standard upon which much of AIDS education is based today. The author demonstrates the necessity of rethinking constructions that have reduced AIDS education and the complex pandemic to simple facts about the HI virus and its transmission. Technicist understandings of the pandemic, the author suggests, have resulted in technicist approaches to AIDS education.</p> </font></p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">Within this thesis, the author recognizes that the technocratic thinking about AIDS Silin warned against has become the standard upon which much of AIDS education is based today. The author demonstrates the necessity of rethinking constructions that have reduced AIDS education and the complex pandemic to simple facts about the HI virus and its transmission. Technicist understandings of the pandemic, the author suggests, have resulted in technicist approaches to AIDS education.</p> </font></p>

Many South Africans experience the severe impact of the HIVIAIDS pandemic. The AlDS orphan, specifically, has to suffer the adverse effects of this relentless worldwide catastrophe. The HIVIAIDS orphan is not just another orphan, but someone who suffers from exceptional pressures which may lead to depression, hopelessness and psychological trauma later in life (Coombe, 2003) In order to function well in these circumstances, nterventions that target resilient functioning are needed to empower the AlDS orphan. The purpose of this study was to document, by means of a literature review and empirical research, the phenomenon of resilience among AlDS orphans. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to elucidate the concepts HIV/AIDS, pandemic, impacts of the pandemic on South Africa and its orphans, resilience and empowerment of orphans. The aim of the empirical research was to investigate the phenomenon of resilience among HIVIAIDS orphans by conducting both survey and phenomenological research and to compare the functioning of resilient and non-resilient orphans. Some of the important findings include: South African AlDS orphans face multiple risk; the participants of this study show remarkable resilience in spite of adversity; and the resilient AlDS orphans in this study alluded to several intrapersonal and interpersonal protective factors which contribute to their resilience. The findings were used to generate guidelines for individuals, families, education and community stakeholders who interact with AlDS orphans and wish to intervene meaningfully in order to empower AlDS orphans towards (continued) resilient functioning. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

Many South Africans experience the severe impact of the HIVIAIDS pandemic. The AlDS orphan, specifically, has to suffer the adverse effects of this relentless worldwide catastrophe. The HIVIAIDS orphan is not just another orphan, but someone who suffers from exceptional pressures which may lead to depression, hopelessness and psychological trauma later in life (Coombe, 2003) In order to function well in these circumstances, nterventions that target resilient functioning are needed to empower the AlDS orphan. The purpose of this study was to document, by means of a literature review and empirical research, the phenomenon of resilience among AlDS orphans. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to elucidate the concepts HIV/AIDS, pandemic, impacts of the pandemic on South Africa and its orphans, resilience and empowerment of orphans. The aim of the empirical research was to investigate the phenomenon of resilience among HIVIAIDS orphans by conducting both survey and phenomenological research and to compare the functioning of resilient and non-resilient orphans. Some of the important findings include: South African AlDS orphans face multiple risk; the participants of this study show remarkable resilience in spite of adversity; and the resilient AlDS orphans in this study alluded to several intrapersonal and interpersonal protective factors which contribute to their resilience. The findings were used to generate guidelines for individuals, families, education and community stakeholders who interact with AlDS orphans and wish to intervene meaningfully in order to empower AlDS orphans towards (continued) resilient functioning. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.