A distressing consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and of the increasing numbers of orphans and decreasing numbers of caregivers is the emergence in ever larger numbers of child-headed households (CHHs). The complexity of issues affecting CHHs and the lack of research on this subject means that CHHs are not well understood. This sometimes prompts support agencies to provide emotionally driven recommendations suggesting that it is better for a child to be in an orphanage than to live in a CHH. This exploratory study, involving heads of 105 CHHs over a 12 month period and 142 participants in various focus group discussions (FGD) and interviews, suggests the need for a change in perspective. It addresses the question of CHH quality of life, coping strategies and household functioning and attempts to bring this into a productive dialogue with community child care activities, NGO and statutory support and child care and protection policies. Research data suggests that the key determining factor contributing towards the creation of a CHH is `pre-parental illness' family conflict. Another contributing factor is that siblings want to stay together after parental death. Quality of life assessments indicate that despite significant adversities, over 69% of CHHs reported a 'medium' to 'satisfactory' quality of life and demonstrate high levels of resilience. As regards vulnerability to abuse, it is found that while CHH members are more vulnerable to external abuse, they experience little within their household. Contrary to public perceptions about CHHs lacking moral values, CHH behaviour might actually be more responsible than non-CHH peer behaviour as their negative experiences appear to galvanize them into adopting responsible behaviour. Community care and neighbourhood support in older townships are better established compared with newer suburbs. Sufficient community care capacity enables CHHs to function, thus avoiding a situation where households disintegrate and household members end up as street children. CHH coping responses seem to be mainly influenced by individual and community factors, and by social, spiritual and material support. The interplay between these and the CHH's ability to engage in the required coping task impacts on the coping outcome at household level. National and international government and non-governmental child service providers in Southern Africa need to recognize that an adequately supported CHH is an acceptable alternative care arrangement for certain children in communities with high adult AIDS mortality and where adult HIV-prevalence exceeds 10%. / Development Studies / D. Ltt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

This qualitative research sought to examine the actual impact of HIV/AIDS on the human security of households in Bulawayo. The two research questions in this study where, how does HIV/AIDS affect the seven areas of human security? and has the economic crisis in Zimbabwe increased the impact of HIV/AIDS on households? This study utilized both primary and secondary data in which the later was consulted in constructing the literature review and to address specific aims one and two. These specific aims were: to assess the human security conditions in Zimbabwe and to examine the potential impact of HIV/AIDS on human security. Data was gathered in the form of two focus group discussions held in Bulawayo with faith-based support groups and also in the form of in-depth interviews with households which were not connected to the faith based support groups in Bulawayo. A total of 29 participants took part in this research representing 29 households. 19 of these households were represented in the two focus group discussions while the remainder of, 10 households were represented in the in-depth interviews. Human security is presented as different from traditional security in that the later seeks to protect nations from external threats while the former seeks to protect people from both external and internal threats such as threats of chronic diseases, hunger, unemployment, crimes, social conflicts, political repressions, environmental hazards and HIV/AIDS. These threats can be natural, manmade or both. Human security was assessed in light of the seven areas of threats to human security which are economic, food, health, environment, personal, community, and political security. Four major themes emanated from this research these being: the financial, health, nutritional and societal impacts of HIV/AIDS on the households in Bulawayo, chief of these being the financial impact in form of increased expenditure, reduced income and diverted investments of households. This study came up with recommendations that aim at reducing and ultimately eradicating the impact of HIV/AIDS on households these being economic empowerment, food aid, ARVs provisions, training in survival skills and orphan care. The major challenge was given to individuals, families, society and NGOs especially the FBOs to take the lead in implementing these recommendations as the government is not yet in a position to do so. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

A distressing consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and of the increasing numbers of orphans and decreasing numbers of caregivers is the emergence in ever larger numbers of child-headed households (CHHs). The complexity of issues affecting CHHs and the lack of research on this subject means that CHHs are not well understood. This sometimes prompts support agencies to provide emotionally driven recommendations suggesting that it is better for a child to be in an orphanage than to live in a CHH. This exploratory study, involving heads of 105 CHHs over a 12 month period and 142 participants in various focus group discussions (FGD) and interviews, suggests the need for a change in perspective. It addresses the question of CHH quality of life, coping strategies and household functioning and attempts to bring this into a productive dialogue with community child care activities, NGO and statutory support and child care and protection policies. Research data suggests that the key determining factor contributing towards the creation of a CHH is `pre-parental illness' family conflict. Another contributing factor is that siblings want to stay together after parental death. Quality of life assessments indicate that despite significant adversities, over 69% of CHHs reported a 'medium' to 'satisfactory' quality of life and demonstrate high levels of resilience. As regards vulnerability to abuse, it is found that while CHH members are more vulnerable to external abuse, they experience little within their household. Contrary to public perceptions about CHHs lacking moral values, CHH behaviour might actually be more responsible than non-CHH peer behaviour as their negative experiences appear to galvanize them into adopting responsible behaviour. Community care and neighbourhood support in older townships are better established compared with newer suburbs. Sufficient community care capacity enables CHHs to function, thus avoiding a situation where households disintegrate and household members end up as street children. CHH coping responses seem to be mainly influenced by individual and community factors, and by social, spiritual and material support. The interplay between these and the CHH's ability to engage in the required coping task impacts on the coping outcome at household level. National and international government and non-governmental child service providers in Southern Africa need to recognize that an adequately supported CHH is an acceptable alternative care arrangement for certain children in communities with high adult AIDS mortality and where adult HIV-prevalence exceeds 10%. / Development Studies / D. Ltt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi. Aflatoxins and fumonisins are among the most toxic mycotoxins. They are a significant risk factor for a cocktail of chronic health conditions including cancer of the liver, oesophagus and kidney, teratogenicity, neural tube defects, interference with lipid metabolism, a weakened immune system and a negative impact on micronutrient absorption in both man and animals. This study compared natural contamination of peanuts, peanut butter and sorghum from Gaborone, Botswana and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe with aflatoxins and fumonisins. In total 34 peanut samples, 34 sorghum samples and 11 peanut butter samples were collected randomly from retail shops and informal markets in the two cities. Fungal contamination was determined using standard mycology methods. Aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination was determined using HPLC-FLD. A. flavus/parasiticus species were detected in 66% and 100% of randomly analysed peanut samples from Bulawayo and Gaborone respectively and 27% (3/11) of peanut butter samples from Bulawayo. 67% of randomly analysed sorghum samples from Bulawayo showed A. flavus/parasiticus and Fusarium species contamination while none of the randomly analysed sorghum samples from Gaborone showed any fungal contamination. Furthermore aflatoxins were not detected in any of the sorghum samples; however 61% (11/18) of the Bulawayo sorghum samples showed fumonisin contamination (Range: 8 – 187 ng/g). Three of the peanut samples from Bulawayo were contaminated with aflatoxins (range: 6.6 – 622 ng/g) and no aflatoxins were detected in Gaborone peanuts. All 11 peanut butter samples from Bulawayo were contaminated with aflatoxins (Mean: 73.5 ng/g, Range: 6.8-250 ng/g) and AFB1 was the most prevalent. These preliminary results indicate that peanut butter and peanuts from Bulawayo are contaminated with high levels of aflatoxins. Stricter policing of regulations should be implemented to ensure compliance by manufacturers and public health interventions implemented in vulnerable communities. / Life & Consumer Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences)

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi. Aflatoxins and fumonisins are among the most toxic mycotoxins. They are a significant risk factor for a cocktail of chronic health conditions including cancer of the liver, oesophagus and kidney, teratogenicity, neural tube defects, interference with lipid metabolism, a weakened immune system and a negative impact on micronutrient absorption in both man and animals. This study compared natural contamination of peanuts, peanut butter and sorghum from Gaborone, Botswana and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe with aflatoxins and fumonisins. In total 34 peanut samples, 34 sorghum samples and 11 peanut butter samples were collected randomly from retail shops and informal markets in the two cities. Fungal contamination was determined using standard mycology methods. Aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination was determined using HPLC-FLD. A. flavus/parasiticus species were detected in 66% and 100% of randomly analysed peanut samples from Bulawayo and Gaborone respectively and 27% (3/11) of peanut butter samples from Bulawayo. 67% of randomly analysed sorghum samples from Bulawayo showed A. flavus/parasiticus and Fusarium species contamination while none of the randomly analysed sorghum samples from Gaborone showed any fungal contamination. Furthermore aflatoxins were not detected in any of the sorghum samples; however 61% (11/18) of the Bulawayo sorghum samples showed fumonisin contamination (Range: 8 – 187 ng/g). Three of the peanut samples from Bulawayo were contaminated with aflatoxins (range: 6.6 – 622 ng/g) and no aflatoxins were detected in Gaborone peanuts. All 11 peanut butter samples from Bulawayo were contaminated with aflatoxins (Mean: 73.5 ng/g, Range: 6.8-250 ng/g) and AFB1 was the most prevalent. These preliminary results indicate that peanut butter and peanuts from Bulawayo are contaminated with high levels of aflatoxins. Stricter policing of regulations should be implemented to ensure compliance by manufacturers and public health interventions implemented in vulnerable communities. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences)

This non-experimental, retrospective, descriptive and correlational study investigated adherence to antiretroviral drugs among HIV positive patients at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo Zimbabwe. Data among 118 patients was extracted from clinic registers and patient facility held medical records to determine level of adherence to ART using pharmacy refills (a non-immunological adherence parameter) and compared to CD4 cell count ( an immunological adherence parameter). Adherence levels obtained in this study using pharmacy refills was low (62.7%) and a relatively high non-adherence level of 37.3%. The pharmacy refill adherence level obtained was comparable to CD4 cell count adherence level of 64.6% (as indicated by a 50% CD4 cell count gain). These findings would seem to indicate the need for more education on the importance of adherence and further the need for better adherence monitoring systems / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

This thesis studies the social history of the poor in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, between 1960 and 2005. This is accomplished by focusing on the housing and unemployment crises they faced and the manifest reluctance of authorities to either provide enough housing or to accept mushrooming informal housing and economic activities in response to these acute shortages. I attempt to highlight the fragility of the poor’s claim to the right to permanent urban residency emphasizing inadequate state funding and poverty and continuities in some discourses from colonial to the post colonial era as factors responsible for spreading and sustaining the discrimination against low income earners in the city. These included authorities’ perceptions that all Africans belonged to rural areas, have access to land, and that low income Africans were immoral and unclean. While these perceptions tended to be fuelled by the racial divide between whites and blacks during the colonial period, class and gender dynamics among Africans crisscrossed that racial divide. After independence, while these perceptions were still alive, central government policy ambitions and failures were instrumental in influencing the welfare and fate of the urban masses and their relations with the former middle class Africans and nationalist leaders who assumed power in 1980. It becomes clear that there was a misunderstanding by authorities on how most of the rural land was not able to support some families because of infertility or lack of resources to successfully till the land by most some families. The overall conclusion is that poor people’s rights to permanent residency were elusive up to 2005 and their living and survival space has been continuing to shrink in the city.

In this thesis, I attempt to explore the development of migrant literature in an era of digitalcommunication. The latest developments in communication technology have certainlydestabilized patterns of content creation and dissemination. While many use it uncritically,mostly as a means of information and keeping in contact, there are new avenues open forthose who wish to engage actively and create a space for new dialogue. And though theseonline platforms have not completely overturned hierarchies between literatures from theWest versus the global South, they have certainly altered both the content and form of workoriginating from African countries. By doing so, digital technology has boosted the creationof an African identity that moves away from victimhood by reimagining ideas of what itmeans to be and write from an African perspective where a multiplicity and hybridity ofvoices exist. I have chosen three “digital migrant novels” (Caren Irr’s term): ChimamandaNgozi Adichihe’s Americanah, NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names, and Open Cityby Teju Cole. I begin by situating these novels in a technologically sophisticated, mediaoriented space, where the geography of nations is challenged by overlapping spaces of digitalcommunication. My aim is threefold – to identify new patterns in migrant identity and to seehow they are affected by technology use; to see whether these patterns correspond to theemergence of an Afropolitan identity (and to understand what permutations this Afropolitanidentity can take on). And and finally, to analyse how digital media communication shapes amigrant’s relationship to homeland and language.

No description available.

This non-experimental, retrospective, descriptive and correlational study investigated adherence to antiretroviral drugs among HIV positive patients at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo Zimbabwe. Data among 118 patients was extracted from clinic registers and patient facility held medical records to determine level of adherence to ART using pharmacy refills (a non-immunological adherence parameter) and compared to CD4 cell count ( an immunological adherence parameter). Adherence levels obtained in this study using pharmacy refills was low (62.7%) and a relatively high non-adherence level of 37.3%. The pharmacy refill adherence level obtained was comparable to CD4 cell count adherence level of 64.6% (as indicated by a 50% CD4 cell count gain). These findings would seem to indicate the need for more education on the importance of adherence and further the need for better adherence monitoring systems / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)