The purpose of the study was to explore factors that influenced safer sex practices in Malawi. A quantitative, explorative, descriptive study was conducted to determine why the prevalence of new HIV infections was still high in Malawi despite. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Sexually active men, women, boys and girls that participated in the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation community awareness activities participated in this study. The study found that demographic, socio-economic and knowledge-related factors influence safer sex practices in Malawi. Various modifying factors played a role in influencing the individuals’ perception of susceptibility, severity, barriers and benefits of practising safer sex. The findings indicated that individuals generally had a broad knowledge of the spread and prevention of HIV. The Health Belief Model was used as theoretical framework for the study / Health Studies

This study described sexual behaviours among adolescents living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Zimbabwe. This study utilised a quantitative descriptive design. Data was collected using structured questionnaires from 341 adolescents living with HIV. Findings revealed that some adolescents were sexually active and had early onset of sexual activity (before their sixteenth birthday). A good proportion of sexually active adolescents were noted not to practise safer sex and the main reason was condom inaccessibility and some had multiple sex partners. Factors independently associated with being sexually active included exposure to erotic content on television programmes, having a psychiatric diagnosis, discussions of sexuality with health worker and older age. Adolescents` behaviours living with HIV and the issue of availability of condoms may play a part in the spread of HIV. More discussions and research on sexuality of adolescents are recommended / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

This dissertation examines the different depictions of ‘immigrants’ and the ways in which migration, ethnicity and racism have been handled by Swedish HIV/AIDS policy since the early 1980s. The dissertation consists of five separate articles and an introductory chapter that outlines the discourse-theoretical approach used in the subsequent articles. The introduction also provides a contextual framework by summarizing recent research on, and sketching a background to, HIV/AIDS policy development in Sweden. The dissertation argues that, although the policy discourse early on established that inducing safer sex practices among the Swedish population was the only viable solution to the pandemic, the discourse is nonetheless permeated by notions of unsafe identities. The dissertation also stresses the importance of scrutinizing HIV/AIDS policy in light of broader political developments, and argues that an increasing focus on migrants in HIV/AIDS policy should not be seen as a simple reflection of the global epidemiological development, but should rather be understood in relation to the general political and economic phenomenon of welfare state retrenchment. Applying postcolonial feminist theories, the dissertation reveals how the policy discourse is permeated by conceptions of migrant cultures as not susceptible to change but steeped in tradition and primordiality, alongside racialized fantasies about Africa as the ‘dark continent’ and the source of disease. It also discusses how both masculinity and femininity, as well as heterosexuality and homosexuality, feature in the policy discourse as demarcations between Western and non-Western subjects – between whites and blacks and between Swedes and non-Swedes – and identifies the challenges that such knowledge implies for feminist HIV/AIDS research and policy. / Denna studie undersöker hur frågor om migration, etnicitet och rasism hanteras i svensk hiv/aids-policy från 1980-talet fram till idag. Avhandlingen består av fem artiklar och ett introduktionskapitel som presenterar tidigare forskning och det diskursteoretiska ramverket som studien utgår från. Introduktionen innehåller även en presentation av hur svensk hiv/aids-policy utvecklats genom åren. Avhandlingen visar att trots att policydiskursen tidigt lyfte fram att säkrare sexuella praktiker är av avgörande betydelse i kampen mot hiv/aids, så vilar diskursen ändå på en föreställning om säkra och osäkra identiteter. Avhandlingen poängterar också vikten av att studera hiv/aids policy i relation till en samtida politisk och ekonomisk utveckling och ställer sig kritiskt till att förklara ett ökat fokus på invandring i policydiskursen enbart med hänvisning till den globala epidemiologiska utvecklingen. Det empiriska materialet består av policydokument och sexualupplysnings-material. Analysen av materialet visar att policydiskursen vilar på föreställningar om statiska ‘invandrarkulturer’ och rasifierade fantasier om Afrika och sjukdomens ursprung. Studien visar också hur såväl maskulinitet och femininitet, som heterosexualitet och homosexualitet, fungerar som markörer mellan västerländska och icke-västerländska subjekt – mellan vita och svarta och mellan svenskar och icke-svenskar – och diskuterar vad detta innebär för feministisk hiv/aids-forskning.

The background to this thesis is that we know very little about lesbian and bisexual women's sexual health in Sweden, particularly in relation to sexually transmitted infections (STI) and their transmissions. An internet-based questionnaire with self-selected participants targeted to the group WSW (Women who have Sex with Women) has been implemented. An international survey on the subject shows that the WSW has sexually transmitted infections. This is also in line with the results in this study. The most common sexually transmitted infection in the survey is chlamydia which 12.3 percent have had. This is a remarkably high figure in comparison with international studies. There are a number of barriers to WSW developing safer sex strategies. Many described a heteronormative response and very low level of knowledge in the health-care.Also WSW themselves have no or little knowledge on the subject. Prevention messages to the group, WSW is often about to use dental dams and very few in practice and in the case where it is used, it has only a very limited function. The majority of women in the study have had sexual contact with both men and women, this applies to both lesbian and bisexually women. In a theoretical analysis, it is possible to discern a conflict between the postmodern and the modern understanding of love and sexuality. This conflict does not exist only on an interpersonal / cultural level but also on a intrapsychic level of humans.

This quantitative study sought to identify and describe factors influencing HIV disclosure and sexual practices among 340 PLWHA on ART at Mbabane National Referral VCT/ART Centre, Swaziland. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. A high general HIV disclosure rate (94.1%; f=320; N=340) was observed of which 57.5% (f=184; n=320) was to sexual partners. X2 procedures indicate an association with gender, residential region, religion, and period of being on ART. The majority (70.2%; f=179; n=255) of the respondents used condoms all the time to avoid infecting their sexual partners (99.2%; f=243; n=245) and to avoid contracting STIs (99.2%; f=243; n=245). X2 procedures indicate an association with gender, residential region, marital status, number of sexual partners, knowledge of the HIV status of sexual partners and period of being on ART. The single leading reason for not using the condom was sexual partners’ refusal to use condoms (85.7%; f=54; n=63). / Health Studies / M.A.(Health Studies)

This quantitative study sought to identify and describe factors influencing HIV disclosure and sexual practices among 340 PLWHA on ART at Mbabane National Referral VCT/ART Centre, Swaziland. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. A high general HIV disclosure rate (94.1%; f=320; N=340) was observed of which 57.5% (f=184; n=320) was to sexual partners. X2 procedures indicate an association with gender, residential region, religion, and period of being on ART. The majority (70.2%; f=179; n=255) of the respondents used condoms all the time to avoid infecting their sexual partners (99.2%; f=243; n=245) and to avoid contracting STIs (99.2%; f=243; n=245). X2 procedures indicate an association with gender, residential region, marital status, number of sexual partners, knowledge of the HIV status of sexual partners and period of being on ART. The single leading reason for not using the condom was sexual partners’ refusal to use condoms (85.7%; f=54; n=63). / Health Studies / M.A.(Health Studies)