"Elections form a key component of democratic governance. Democracy denotes a political system that, among other things, allows citizens to freely choose their government over time through credible, legitimate and acceptable elections; a system which accords them adequate participation in national affairs and a system in which the national affairs are run in a transparent and accountable manner. Democracy as a concept rests upon the consideration that a political leadership in a country must be chosen through an electon governed by fair rules under which social groups and political forces may compete on equal terms. Research has shown that HIV and AIDS may have adverse effects on democracy in Southern Africa. Electoral systems, voter participation, electoral management and administration and political institutions are among the areas of democratisation most affected by HIV/AIDS. ... Chapter one introduces the topic, the research questions to be answered by the research and the research methodology. It also contains a brief literature survey of the research on this topic so far. Chapter two sets out the legal framweork, it gives an analysis of states obligations to ensure political participation based on international and regional standards. The rights of HIV/AIDS infected and affected persons to participate in government and the meaning of [the] right to vote is discussed. The application of the international law obligations to promote and fulfill [uman rights] are discussed and the question 'Do governments have a duty to set up special mechanisms to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic within the electoral context?' is answered. Chapter three is an examination of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and political participation. A brief overview of current electoral statistics and statistics of the trend of the HIV/AIDS pandemic are given. The chapter examines the possible reasons for lack of participation by HIV/AIDS infected and affected persons. Chapter four is a critical analysis of some responses that can be adopted to address the situation. It focuses on mechanical and structural reforms to the electoral process: amending electoral laws and policies to include postal, proxy and other special voting mechanisms; providing for specific legal obligations, for example to have mobile registration and polling stations, to ensure that there is a polling station within a specific distance so that people do not have to walk far and stand in long queues in order to vote. The failure to meet such obligations must have specific legal consequences. Chapter five suggests a more controversial reform of lowering the voting age to address the impact of HIV/AIDS on democracy and children. Chapter six [includes the] conclusion and recommendations." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Naz K. Modirzadeh at the Department of Law, American University in Cairo, Egypt / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to investigate to what extent the availability of antiretroviral treatment has influenced sexual risk behavior practices in people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in order to provide suggestions to improve HIV prevention messages. The study was conducted among adult HIV patients on ART aged 18 and above and affiliated to the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS (NZP+) in Lusaka District. A purposive sampling method was used to select study units and a sample of 40 was selected. Data was collected from participants using a self-administered questionnaire. SPSS version 20 software computer package was used to analyze data. Chi- square was used to measure associations between dependent variables (risky sexual behavior and initiation of ART) and the independent variable (duration of time on ART). With the confidence interval set at 95%, the P value was used to ascertain the degree of significance by using the decision rule which rejects the null hypothesis if P value is equal or less than 0.05. The findings revealed that the participant's mean age was 2.8 ± 1.3 SD. More than half (68%, n=27) of the participants had adequate knowledge on HIV prevention while 90% (n=36) of participants had a good (positive) attitude towards ART. 82.5% (n=33) of the participants on ART had sexual intercourse in the last 6 month, and 21.2% (n=7) of these did not use a condom for secondary prevention. There was no significant correlation between being on ART and having sexual intercourse, condom usage or number of sexual partners OR (P value of 0.45 and 0.85), (P values 0.37 and 0.5) and (P value 0.34 and 0.57) respectively. In multivariable analysis, the majority of the respondents (35.5%, n=11) indicated that continued sensitization would improve HIV prevention messages to support communities affected. Few (29%, n=9) stated that: "promoting abstinence among the youths or use of a condom for those that are sexually active and intensifying VCT campaign would reduce HIV transmission" and 7% (n=2) of the respondents suggested that; "involving the families and communities affected, civic, religious, and traditional leaders to educate both the young and adult citizens in schools, colleges and churches to support PLWH and fight against HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za iii A significant association was not found between an increase in risky sexual behavior or an upsurge in the occurrence of unprotected sex, initiation of ART and duration of being on ART. The majority (83%, n=15) of the respondents on ART for less than sixty months had protected sexual intercourse and 73% (n=11) on ART for sixty months and above also used protection. This association was statistically not significant (Chi-square value 2.95. P value > 0.05). However; other studies need to explore these subjective interpretations further. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nie beskikbaar

"The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) case, as a model for Africa, marks a positive step in protecting the right to health, particularly pregnant women and their infants. It provides a rich jurisprudence on protection of the right to health in Africa, and particularly in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The TAC case definitely portrays the strength and role of an independent judiciary in the enforcment of constitutional rights such as socio-economic rights. The competence, legitimacy and power of the courts to pronounce on the constitutional validity of socio-economic rights justifies that it is indeed a model for the enforcemnt of the right to health in Africa. However, the right to health is not justiciable in many African constitutions. It is submitted that failure to address human rights violations, particularly the right to health, fuels the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This calls for government to take measures to protect the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS, particularly women. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), of which most African countries are state parties to, obligates states parties to take necessary measures to give effect to the rights enshrined therein, including socio-economic rights. Socio-economic rights, in most African countries, including particularly Cameroon, are not constitutionally protected as justiciable rights. Thus, the jurisprudence of the TAC case could inspire African countries whose legislation and case law on socio-economic rights are underdeveloped, to make use of the jurisprudence issued by the Court in this field. The TAC case could also be used to persuade national courts to enforce socio-economic rights, given the prevalence of socio-economic rights violations in Africa. Thus, in this regard, it will be argued that governments have a fundamental obligation to ensure that the right to health is respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled as provided in regional and international human rights instruments. ... Chapter 1 of this study highlights the structure of the whole study. Chapter 2 provides an in-depth analysis of the TAC case, the basis of the ratio decidendi of the TAC case. The analysis includes the implications of the TAC case on the SA government. Chapter 3 reviews the application of international and regional human rights instruments protecting the right to health, and how these instruments are interpreted by human rights treaty monitoring bodies and municipal courts to impose on the state the duty to protect the right to health. Section 27 of the Constitution is also lightly considered. The discussion concentrates on the relevance of these norms and jurisprudence to the protection of the right to health in the context of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The thrust of the theory of separation of powers is extensively discussed on the basis that the right to health encompasses seeking redress whenever it is violated. Thus, the study explores the judicial role in the HIV/AIDS era, to ensure that the right to health is enforced. However, it is noted that judicial independence and the theory of separation of powers, amongst others, may impede the enforcement of the right to health when it is challenged. Chapter 4 evaluates the Cameroon approach to the right to health in the Constitution, and seeks to find answers as to whether the judiciary has capacity and expertise to impose on the government the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the right to health. Furthermore, the reasons are provided as to why the TAC case serves as a model for Africa. Chapter 5 is a summary of the conclusions drawn from the whole study and makes some recommendations." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. A.N. Atangcho at the Association for the Promotion of Human Rights in Central Africa (APDHAC), Catholic University of Central Africa, Catholic Institute, Yaounde, Cameroon / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"Although the number of new infections has dramatically decreased during the last ten years, portraying this country [Uganda] as the 'AIDS miracle', the number of people already infected and progressing to AIDS is increasing. Acces to anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, as well as to medicines for treatment of opportunistic infections (TOI), is essential for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) to enjoy their right to life and health. Although access to these essentail medicines forms part of the core content of the right to health, which states should be able to provide irrespective of their available resources, slightly more than half of the people in need in Uganda were accessing them in June 2005. Of 63,896 PLWHA accessing ARVs, still 83.5 percent are paying the medicines out of their pockets. This is despite the fact that Uganda receives funds from various sources, among which Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF) and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Although the cost of ARV treatment in Uganda has dramatically decreased since 1997, the price of treatment remains still unaffordable for most Ugandans. ... This study comprises five chapters. The present chapter exposes the problem, the objectives of the study and the research questions, reviews the literature available on the subject, outlines the study's structure, proposes a methodology and points out the study's limitations and relevance. Chapter two sets out the international legal framework of the study. It oulines the scope of the right of PLWHA to access to essential treatment under different international instruments of relevance for Uganda and its connection with other human rights. The chapter also assesses the implications of this right for state and non-state actors. Chapter three sets out the national legal, policy and judicial framework. It explores the action taken by the various branches of the government in addressing the international obligations with regard to access essential treatment. This chapter will also look at the role played by other relevant stakeholders in the realisation of this right in Uganda. Chapter four analyses the various obstacles that impede the realisation of this right at national level, taking into account the globalisation process, the political situation of Uganda, as well as other socio-economic factors. Chapter five provides the final conclusions and recommends legal, judicial and administrative channels towards the realisation of the right to access essential treatment for OLWHA in Uganda." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / [Prepared under the supervision of] Dr. Ben Kiromba Twinomugisha, Makerere University / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Thesis (MScMedSc (Biomedical Sciences. Medical Physiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: HIV/AIDS is a global epidemic that accounts for a large percentage of the mortality in South Africa every year. Since the implementation of anti-retroviral treatment, HIV positive individuals have been living longer, and the cognitive impairment associated with the disease is becoming increasingly apparent. During the initial systemic infection of HIV, the virus migrates through the blood-brain barrier and inflicts axonal injury by causing upregulation of cytokines and neurotoxic proteins. HIV-associated dementia is a neuropsychological classification of cognitive impairment in HIV and a variety of symptoms have been classified as a part of the dementia complex. One of these is apathy, which is thought to be a precursor for dementia in HIV patients. Three groups of individuals have been recruited and scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine changes in the brain. These are an HIV non-apathetic cohort, an HIV apathetic cohort and a healthy control cohort. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an MRI technique used to quantitatively assess white matter (WM) integrity using metrics such as fractional anisotropy (FA). Voxel-based analysis, tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and tractography are three established DTI analysis methods that have been applied in numerous studies. However, there are certain methodological strengths and limitations associated with each technique and therefore all three of these techniques were used to compare WM differences across groups. The frontal-subcortical pathways are known to be abnormal in apathy, and this has been demonstrated in a number of imaging studies. Most of these studies have examined apathy in the context of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s. However, to our knowledge this is the first DTI study in HIV apathetic patients. With the tractography method, the anterior thalamic radiation and the corpus callosum were reconstructed for each individual to determine whether there were any global changes in these tracts. No significant changes were found. However, a variety of regions in the WM were significantly abnormal in the HIV cohorts when comparing the data at a voxel-based level and using TBSS. This included areas such as the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum, the internal capsule and corona radiata. Changes in frontal WM for the HIV apathy group are an indication of dysfunction in the frontal-striatal circuits, and previous literature has implicated these circuits in the neuropathology of apathy in a variety of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: MIV/VIGS is `n wêreldwye epidemie wat verantwoordelik is vir `n hoë sterftesyfer in Suid- Afrika elke jaar. Sedert die inleiding van anti-retrovirale behandeling, het die MIV-positiewe populasie se lewensduur verleng. Tesame met langer lewensduur, het die kognitiewe verswakking wat geassosieer word met die siekte ook meer prominent na vore gekom. Gedurende die beginstadium van sistemiese infeksie in MIV is daar `n migrasie van die virus deur die bloed-breinskans. MIV kan indirek verantwoordelik wees vir aksonale beskadiging deur verhoging van neurotoksiese proteine en sitokinien te induseer. MIV-geassosieerde demensie is `n neurosielkundige klassifikasie van kognitiewe verswakking in MIV en verskeie simptome is al geïdentifiseer as deel van die demensie kompleks. Een van die simptome is apatie en daar word gespekuleer dat dit `n voorloper is vir demensie in MIV pasiënte. Drie groepe individue was gewerf vir die studie en geskandeer deur magnetiese resonansie beeldvorming (MRB) om sodoende veranderinge in die brein te ondersoek. Die groepe was onderskeidelik `n HIV nie-apatiese kohort, `n HIV apatiese kohort en `n gesonde kontrole kohort. Diffusie tensor beelding (DTB) is `n MRB tegniek wat toegepas word om witstof integriteit te meet deur gebruik te maak van maatstawwe soos fraksionele anisotropie (FA). “Voxel-based analysis”, “tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS)” en “tractography” is drie gevestigde DTB analitiese metodes wat al in talle studies toegepas was. Daar is egter sekere metodologiese voordele en beperkings verbonde aan elke tegniek en daarom is al drie tegnieke gebruik om witstof verskille tussen groepe te vergelyk. Die frontale-subkortikale roetes in die brein is bekend vir abnormaliteite in apatie en dit was ook al gedemonstreer in verskeie studies. Die meeste van die studies het apatie ondersoek in die konteks van neurodegeneratiewe siektes soos Alzheimer se siekte en Parkinson se siekte. Maar sover ons weet is hierdie die eerste DTB studie in MIV pasiënte met apatie. Met die “tractography” metode was die anterior thalamic radiation en corpus callosum herbou vir elke individu. Dit was om te bepaal of daar enige globale veranderinge is in hierdie gebiede, maar geen beduidende veranderinge is gevind nie.`n Verskeidenheid van gebiede in die witstof was beduidend abnormaal in die MIV kohorte wanneer die data vergelyk was met “TBSS” en “voxel-based analysis.” Dit het gebiede ingesluit soos die genu en splenium van die corpus callosum, die internal capsule en die corona radiata. Veranderinge in die frontale witstof vir die MIVapatie groep is `n aanduiding van disfunksie in die frontale-striatale bane. Vorige literatuur impliseer dat hierdie bane betrokke is in die neuro-patologie van apatie in verskeie sentrale senuweestelsel (SS) steurings.