This descriptive survey was carried out to gather information that could be used to assist in the development of an HIV/AIDS educational program as a way to promote adolescents' health and prevent diseases in the United Arab Emirates. The study examines the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and sources of information of high school students in Sharjah city regarding HIV/AIDS. Anonymous questionnaire with five sections: demographics, HIV/AIDS knowledge, sources of information, attitudes and beliefs was administered to 12th grade high school students from four schools in Sharjah. Analysis of findings showed that 87 percent of students knew that AIDS affects the body's immune system and 68 .5 percent knew that it is not inherited .The majority of students were aware of relationship between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. However, students lacked information in some areas as HIV/AIDS transmission routes. There was generally a negative attitude towards HIV/AIDS infected people. This was shown in students' responses to some statements that AIDS was "a punishment for those infected for their immoral acts". Moreover, students expressed unwillingness to live with HIV/AIDS infected people. Students were positive in applying prevention, facilitating proper treatment for the diseased and believed that HIV/AIDS education in schools is a necessity. Their HIV/AIDS sources of information were mainly from written materials (journals, newspapers and books). It was concluded that, generally, students in this study had a good knowledge, and some positive attitudes about AIDS. However, the concerns they expressed in relation to their fears of sharing, or living with HIV/AIDS infected individuals, and some of their beliefs, need to be addressed more in the education prevention programs. Students need to be more knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS prevention. They indicated desires for more knowledge, especially as they become aware of the increasing risk of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in the Emirates. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University,2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS among different organizations in Lesotho and how they respond to the challenge; and to determine whether these organizations respond positively/effectively to the challenge of the pandemic in their respective organizations and whether they have developed workplace programmes and policies which address the issue, and if they do exist, whether they are effective. Lesotho is one of the countries in the world with a very severe HIV/AIDS infection rate. It is estimated that 28.9% of the entire population was living with HIV/AIDS as of December 2003 (UNAIDS, 2004). The increasing number of HIV/AIDS infectees in the country is affecting the entire labour force; therefore to effectively respond to the pandemic, the government of Lesotho and its development partners and civil society organizations are doing everything within their means to control it. Therefore, work place programmes that deal with HIV/AIDS on the work environment should be an answer to the social capital issue; the most valuable resource being human capital, since the programmes would promote prevention, information, education and training. It would also promote the rights of staff members and their dependants living with and/or affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The population where the investigation was done is made up of corporate places of work stratified into five types of organizations found in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho: o Non-governmental organizations o Private sector o Development partners ( Diplomatic Missions/Donors) o Parastatals o Government The results of the study indicated that the majority of these organizations have workplace programmes and policies which are effective and appreciated by the employees, while others are in the process of drawing up their policies or already have them in draft form. Despite all the efforts being put in place, the feeling among some of the organizations is that HIV infection in Africa will continue to increase because of the way it is being addressed; what they call ‘The Western way’. They feel that if it is addressed situationally, not academically, there will be a slight difference. For example, they claim that Africans do not feel comfortable about bringing their private behaviours in the open; for instance, speaking about sex and sexuality. The belief systems of the Basotho are also identified as great influencers in the pandemic. These include the culture/traditions, relations with the family and pressure from peers, people whom we trust and the fulfilment of women's sexual desires. The conclusion reached is that the different organizations in Lesotho address the challenge of HIV/AIDS positively and in others effectively, and with more effort the pandemic could be brought under control in the near future. The recommendation after viewing the findings, is that the issue of care and support, stigma and discrimination are still issues that need to be worked on, since employees are scared to know their status due to fear of being stigmatized. Therefore, the above cannot be addressed properly unless they are seen in practice. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is 'n ondersoek na die impak van MIV/Vigs op, en reaksie van verskillende ondernemings in Lesotho. Volgens beraming is die infeksiekoers van Lesotho 28.9% en is die invloed daarvan op die werkersmag beduidend; dit kan selfs katastofies raak indien dit nie doeltreffend aangespreek en bestuur word nie.. Data is versamel by by vyf kategorië van ondernemings in Maseru ten einde te verseker dat al die belangrikste sektore deur die studie betrek word.. Resultate toon aan dat die meeste ondernemings wel werksplekprogramme en MIV/Vigs-beleid in plek het. Die persepsie van werkers binne die ondernemings wat in die ondersoek gebruik is toon egter 'n negatiewe prognose ten opsigte van die doelteffende bestuur van die pandemie. Die gevoel is dat die benadering te reglynig en "Westers" is en dat die metafore en tradisies van Afrika meer effektief in voorkomingsprogramme sal wees. Voorstelle in hierdie verband word gemaak. Voorstelle vir meer doeltreffende voorkomingsprogramme word gemaak en voorstelle vir verdere studies in Lesotho word aan die hand gedoen.

In the absence of a cure and/or vaccine, the best approach to HIV is to focus on prevention. However, preventative measures that are presently available in Nigeria do not target persons with intellectual disability despite their vulnerability to HIV infection. This study sought to compare the HIV knowledge, attitudes, and sexual practices of mildly/moderately intellectually impaired learners (IIL) and mainstream learners (ML) in Nigeria; to explore the contextual factors informing these, as well as both groups‗ exposure to HIV education. It also tested the relevance of the I-Change Model in predicting sexual abstinence among learners with intellectual disability. Findings can assist in developing tailored HIV prevention education for Nigerian learners with intellectual impairment. This cross-sectional, comparative study utilised mixed methods to investigate HIV knowledge, attitudes, and sexual practices among mildly/moderately IIL and ML in Nigeria. Mildly/moderately IIL (300) and ML (300) within the age range of 12-19 years in special and regular schools completed a questionnaire based on the I-Change Model. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were used with learners to explore contextual factors informing their HIV knowledge, risk perception, sexual behaviours and access to HIV education and services. Key informant interviews were used as independent sources of the same information with their teachers. Learners with intellectual impairment were less aware of HIV/AIDS than their non-disabled peers (p < 0.001), had lower HIV knowledge scores (p < 0.001) and lower HIV risk perception scores (p < 0.001). Sexual experience was reported by 79 (26.3%) of the IIL sample compared to 48 (16.0%) of the ML sample (p = 0.002). Girls with intellectual disability were 3.71 times more likely to report a history of sexual abuse than non-disabled girls (p = 0.041). Inconsistent condom use with casual partners (p < 0.001) and non-use of condoms during the last sexual activity (p < 0.001) was higher in IIL. The I-Change Model was most effective in predicting sexual abstinence among IIL, particularly regarding factors related to motivation and intention. Intellectually impaired learners were more vulnerable to HIV infection due to neglect, poverty, sexual abuse/exploitation, stigmatisation, pressure from non-disabled peers, denial of HIV education, and inaccessible HIV-related services. Teachers only provided them with sexuality and HIV education when sexual activity was suspected and/or from age 18. The content of such education comprised mainly warnings, misinformation and corporal punishment to instil fear and desexualise them. Thus, this group of learners was limited in the way they experienced and expressed their sexuality. Unlike with their non-disabled peers, teachers attributed sexual activity among IIL solely to natural urges without emotional involvement. Contrary to teachers‘ opinions, some IIL were involved in symbiotic, loving relationships with their II peers. In addition, those that were not yet in such relationships expressed the desire to find non-discriminatory partners in the future. They explored their sexuality through intimate relationships, sexual intercourse, peeping at the opposite sex, pornography, and masturbation. Condoms were less available to IIL than ML, and they lacked the self-efficacy to use them. They were also less available to II girls than II boys. Female learners with intellectual impairment often had older sexual partners due to sexual abuse/exploitation, unlike their non-disabled peers, who embarked on such relationships for financial/material gains. The findings of this study indicated that IIL were sexual beings, just like their non-disabled peers, and at higher risk of HIV infection than the latter. Stigma and discrimination are the root causes of all the disadvantages/barriers that IIL experience in accessing HIV information, education and related services. Therefore, there is the need to put stigma reduction strategies in HIV response to safeguard the health of IIL. In addition, there is a need for the development of a gender-sensitive, tailored sexuality and HIV/AIDS educational format for learners with intellectual disability in Nigeria. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Activation of mammalian stress responsive pathways by plant secondary metabolites may contribute to the protection against certain chronic diseases afforded by fruit and vegetable consumption. This work focuses on the identification of plant compounds that activate the stress-responsive enzyme quinone reductase (QR) by stabilizing the transcription factor NF-E2 related factor-2 (Nrf2). Screening methanolic extracts of plants from Western Canada for QR induction in a mouse hepatoma cell line (Hepa-1c1c7) led to the identification of twenty-one extracts capable of doubling the activity of QR. Bioassay-guided fractionation of six extracts led to the identification of novel classes of compounds with QR-inducing activity including fatty-acid derived polyacetylenes, phthalides, and cannabinoids. Studies using low molecular weight thiols and the recombinantly expressed protein Keap1, the principal negative regulator of Nrf2, supported a mechanism of QR activation involving covalent modification of Keap1 cysteines for the polyacetylenes and phthalides. Analysis of transcriptional changes in response to treatment with a panel of QR-inducing compounds provided strong support for Nrf2 activation by the polyacetylene (3S,8S)-falcarindiol and the isothiocyanate (R)-sulforaphane and weaker support for the compounds (3R,8S)-falcarindiol, 6-isovaleryl-umbelliferone (6-IVU) and (Z)-ligustilide. Additionally, transcript level analyses supported a role for the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor in QR-activation by (3R,8S)-falcarindiol, (Z)-ligustilide, (R)-sulforaphane, 6-IVU and cannabidiol and suggested that treatment with polyacetylenes with a (3R)-configuration, (Z)-ligustilide and 6-IVU causes substantial changes in the expression of genes associated with lipid homeostasis and energy metabolism. As a whole, this work provides evidence that compounds that activate QR (and Nrf2) are widely distributed in the Canadian flora. However, of these QR activators, few are active at concentrations that are expected to be achieved through dietary consumption. Nevertheless, the most exceptional compounds isolated in this work, the compounds (3S,8S)-falcarindiol and epoxyfalcarindiol are highly potent and appear to be or are expected to be specific for activating Nrf2 and thus warrant attention with respect to dietary implications and as drug candidate leads.

Investigation of the relationship between iron deficiency, iron supplementation and susceptibility to infection, was suggested by the author's initial observations of an association of anaemia with serious bacterial infections in infancy in Papua New Guinea. The bulk of previous longitudinal clinical intervention studies in infancy showed beneficial effects of iron supplementation. However, defects of control and design and recording in these studies and contradictory anecdotal reports left the question unresolved. A prospective, placebo-controlled, randomised, double-blind trial of iron prophylaxis (3ml intramuscular iron dextran = 150mg Fe) to two month old infants was carried out on the North Coast of Papua New Guinea where there is high transmission of malaria. A literature review, pilot studies, protocol, demography, geography and laboratory methods developed are described. Findings indicate that the placebo control group became relatively iron deficient over the first year of life and that the iron dextran group had adequate, although not excessive iron stores and a higher mean haemoglobin; however, the prevalence and effects of malaria recorded in the field were higher in the iron dextran group. Analysis of field and hospital infectious morbidity in the trial indicated a deleterious association with iron dextran for all causes including respiratory infections (the main single reason for admission). Total duration of hospitalisation was significantly increased in the iron dextran group. Analysis of other factors showed (1) a higher admission rate associated with low weight-for-height recorded at the start of the trial; (2) a significant positive correlation between birth haemoglobin and hospital morbidity rates; (3) increased malaria rates in primiparous mothers of the cohort infants who received iron infusion during pregnancy; (4) lower relative risk of malaria associated with iron prophylaxis in individuals with alpha thalassaemia, which was found to be highly prevalent in this region. In conclusion, it is suggested that policies of iron supplementation, total dose iron injection and routine presumptive iron therapy for anaemia which are widely in practice in malaria endemic areas should be closely reviewed.

The Healthy Alberta Communities (HAC) is a community-based chronic disease prevention project that draws on a wide spectrum of community-initiated interventions undertaken as a cluster in four Alberta communities since 2005. HAC-funded collaborative projects are undertaken with local stakeholders. Community stakeholders who buy in contributed their own resources in kind in the collaborative process. These in kind resources are considered HAC's indirect cost from a societal perspective since stakeholders forgo the benefit of using these resources for themselves, a forgone best alternative. This study proposes a methodology to identify, catalogue and count these in kind resources, called indirect cost, which will be used in HAC economic evaluation. Methodological challenges of identifying, cataloguing and counting both direct anad indirect costs for a cluster of diverse interventions, and the manner with which these challenges were addressed, are explained. Both direct and indirect cost data that span up to the first 24 months in two HAC communities were analyzed. Some results included are: (1)in kind resources are counted in number of in kind person-hours; (2) a combined total of 11,483 in kind person-hours from community stakeholders were catalogued and counted over an eight-month period; (3) in a monetary context, a suggested typical operating expenditure to generate one in kind person-hour using a HAC model (one head office, two community offices) was $15.58. This is the first study to directly measure resources donated in kind in public health. / Epidemiology

[Truncated abstract] An elevated total plasma homocysteine concentration (tHcy) is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. Folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 supplements significantly reduce tHcy even in people who are not overtly vitamin deficient. If homocysteine is a causal risk factor for atherothrombotic events, treatment with B-vitamins might prove a simple and cost-effective means to reduce cardiovascular risk. However, it remains unclear whether elevated tHcy causes atherosclerosis or is simply a risk marker. To prove that homocysteine is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease it is necessary to show that lowering tHcy reduces vascular risk. The aim of this study was to determine whether long-term homocysteine-lowering with B-vitamins would improve vascular structure and function in people with a history of stroke. This study was a cross-sectional sub-study of the Vitamins TO Prevent Stroke trial (VITATOPS), a multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to test the efficacy and safety of B-vitamins (folic acid 2mg, vitamin B6 25mg and vitamin B12 0.5mg) in the prevention of vascular events in patients with a recent history of stroke or transient ischemic attack. 173 VITATOPS participants were recruited for the current study. Age, sex, stroke type, medications, cardiovascular risk factors and smoking history were recorded and blood pressure, height, weight, waist and hip girth were measured in all subjects at least two years after randomisation. ... After a mean treatment period of 3.9 ± 0.9 years, the subjects randomised to vitamin treatment had significantly lower tHcy than the subjects randomised to placebo (7.9mol/L, 95%CI 7.5, 8.4 versus 11.8mol/L, 95%CI 10.9, 12.8; p<0.001). There were no significant differences between groups in CIMT (0.84 ± 0.17mm vitamins versus 0.83 ± 0.18mm placebo; p=0.74) or FMD (median of 4.0%, IQR 0.9, 7.2, vitamins versus 3.0%, IQR 0.6, 6.6 placebo; p=0.48). Pooled estimates from the meta-analyses showed that B-vitamin treatment reduces CIMT by 0.10mm (95%CI –0.20, -0.01mm) and increases FMD by 1.4%, (95%CI 0.7, 2.2), although these estimates may have been influenced by positive publication bias. The improvement in FMD was significant in studies of less than eight weeks duration but not in studies with longer treatment periods. The association between tHcy and CIMT and FMD was eliminated by adjustment for renal function and long-term B-vitamin treatment did not alter the strong linear relationship between tHcy and cystatin C. Lowering tHcy did not alter arterial wall inflammation assessed by 18FDG-PET, although small subject numbers meant we were unable to exclude a minor treatment effect. Long-term homocysteine-lowering with B-vitamin treatment did not improve CIMT or FMD or reduce arterial wall inflammation in people with a history of stroke. The relationship between tHcy and these markers of vascular risk was eliminated by adjustment for renal function. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that elevated tHcy is a risk marker for cardiovascular disease rather than a modifiable causal risk factor.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is qualitative research that aims to identify the effect of corruption on HIV/AIDS donor funds in Namibia in order to provide guidelines to policy makers in relations to the regulation of HIV/IDS donor funding. Henceforth, in–depth interviews with open ended questions were used with Government, civil society and donor agencies’ senior officials to obtain data. Additionally, institutional permission was granted from the identified institutions who participated in the research. An inductive analysis was used which required data to be categorised and developing themes from the data. Respondents reported lack of national donor specifications in the field of HIV/AIDS as a serious problem to donor funds in Namibia. However, respondents indicated their organisations had proper management systems in place which included, annual audits, sufficient personnel and monitoring and evaluation. Withdrawal of donor funding has been on the increase due to corrupt practices in some funded organisation and this is mostly affecting people living with HIV/AIDS. Respondent reported there is a need to strengthen the existing umbrella body and improve accountability. The findings of the study show the effect of corruption on HIV/AIDS donor funds in Namibia is the withdrawal of HIV/AIDS donor supports by several donor agencies which has led to numerous donor funded institutions closing down and a number of employee losing their employment. Lack of national HIV/AIDS donor specifications is viewed as a loophole for corruption for many funded organisations as there are no national accountability systems in place in relation to HIV/AIDS donor funds in Namibia. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nie beskikbaar.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work provides a comprehensive overview of the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic. It examines the historical and social background of the HIV/AIDS situation and looks at the importance of the media and science communication in combating the effects of the epidemic on society. This research explores the different forms of health communication and the varied benefits of each. Overall, it highlights positive media efforts that have helped redirect the HIV/AIDS epidemic within the social and political context of the HIV epidemic in South Africa. The second half of this work covers the challenges experienced in gaining publicsector antiretroviral treatment and the roles the media have played in informing and mobilizing society for these efforts. Through a community clinic ethnographic case study this work explores the current state of treatment clinics, social challenges experienced in the Usapho Lwethu Clinic of Gugulethu and the future of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie werk verskaf ‘n omvattende oorsig van die Suid-Afrikaanse HIV/VIGS epidemie. Dit ondersoek die historiese en sosiale agtergrond van die HIV/VIGS toestand en belig die belangrikheid van media en wetenskaplike kommunikasie in die bestryding van die effek van hierdie epidemie op die samelewing. Hierdie navorsing verken die verskillende vorms van gesondheidskommunikasie en die onderskeie voordele van elk. In sy geheel beklemtoon dit die positiewe pogings van die media wat gehelp het met die herkanalisering van die HIV/VIGS epidemie binne die sosiale en politieke konteks in Suid-Afrika. Die tweede helfte van die werk gee 'n oorsig van die rol wat die media speel in die beskikbaarstelling van inligting en die mobilisasie van die publiek en die stryd rondom die verkryging van antiretrovirale behandeling vir die algemene publiek. ‘n Etnies-grafiese gevallestudie van ‘n plaaslike gemeenskapskliniek word gebruik om die huidige toestand in behandelingsklinieke toe te lig asook die sosiale uitdagings in die Usapho Lwethu Kliniek in Gugulethu en die toekoms rondom die HIV/VIGS epidemie in Suid-Afrika.

No description available.