Dowsett (2003) notes that by far, the vast majority of non-biomedical research on HIV/AIDS has been behavioural research, usually by survey methods, counting people's sex acts, partners, preferences, places, times and reasons for sex, and assessing levels of risk for HIV infection, revealing the dominance of seeing sex largely as behaviours.

This second edition of the book provides up-to-date information on new drugs, new proven HIV prevention interventions, a new chapter on positive prevention, and current HIV epidemiology. This definitive text covers all aspects of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, from basic science to medicine, sociology, economics and politics. It has been written by a highly respected team of South African HIV/AIDS experts and provides a thoroughly researched account of the epidemic in the region.

The book focuses on the ways in which gendered and sexualised systems of power are produced in educational settings that are framed by broader social and cultural processes, both of which shape and are shaped by children and young people as they interact with each other. All these nuanced features of gender and sexuality are vital if we are to understand inequalities and violence, and fundamental to our three-ply yarn approach in this book. Focusing on the South African context, but with international relevance, the authors adopt the metaphor of the three-ply yarn (Jordan-Young, 2010): these being the cross-cutting themes of gender, sexuality and violence. Subsequently, the book illustrates the intimate ties that bind gender and sexuality with the social and cultural dimensions of violence, as experienced in educational settings.

With contributions from leading legal and policy researchers, clinical practitioners and child development specialists in southern Africa, this volume is an invitation to reflect on the many-sided nature of sexual abuse of young children. Many of the contributors propose effective ways to prevent abuse or improve care and services for the many affected children and their families. The book is in five parts. The opening section confronts the realities of sexual abuse of pre-pubertal children and the way abuse is represented in the press. The second section discusses the individual and socio-cultural causes of child sexual abuse. Section three covers legal and policy responses to the problem, while the fourth section presents a series of accounts of interventions on behalf of abused children drawn from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The book concludes with some critical reflections on research in this area.

This book focuses on the issues encountered by children and young people who are living with HIV/AIDS. It examines their lived experiences associated with HIV/AIDS, and studies groups of children and youngsters from around the globe. Connecting empirical information with real-life situations, the book brings together results from empirical research that relates to these children and young people. Its chapters can be used as evidence for health care providers to implement socially and culturally appropriate services to assist individuals and groups of children and young people who are living with HIV/AIDS in many societies. Many of these young people are from the most marginalized and vulnerable groups; and many have been orphaned by the death of their HIV-positive parents. Marginalized young people such as refugees, migrants and street children are most at risk due to the use of illicit drugs, their exposure to unprotected sex (in exchange for food, money and protection), and stigma associated with their marginalized lives. The impact that HIV/AIDS has on the opportunities for these young people to be able to lead healthy adult lives is considerable. This book gives a voice to these children and young people and advances our understanding of their lived experiences and needs.

HIV/AIDS continues to be the pandemic of our times and there has not been a comprehensive medically based AIDS prevention book published in the last 5 years. It is estimated that 36 to 45 million people including 2-3 million children already are infected worldwide and an additional 4-7 million more are infected each year. There are about 6,000 new infections daily and about 12 million AIDS orphans. People receiving AIDS treatments feel well and have no detectable viral load, but still can infect others. And even when a vaccine is found, it will take many years before it can be administered across the developing world. - Discusses all aspects of AIDS prevention, from epidemiology, molecular immunology and virology to the principles of broad-based public health prevention interventions - Special focus on the array of interventions that have been proven effective through rigorous study - Identifies new trends in HIV/AID epidemiology and their impact on creating and implementing prevention interventions - Incorporates virology, biology, infectious diseases, vaccinology, microbicides and research methodologies into AIDS prevention

Over the last two decades, the implosion of economies under the burden of debt, the negative repercussions of structural adjustment programs, the crisis of legitimacy, civil wars, and the collapse of some states have resulted in serious health issues across the African continent. Newly emerging diseases, such as Ebola virus and HIV/AIDS have killed and disabled millions. Some “old diseases,” such as yellow fever, tuberculosis, and polio have reappeared. Malaria, cholera, and meningitis continue to kill thousands. In many countries, the medical infrastructure has collapsed, while an increasing number of physicians and nurses have migrated to more hospitable places. Stigmatization of the affected people has exacerbated social and racial discrimination and has affected the implementation of national and international public health programs. The complexity of the situation requires an interdisciplinary approach. This collection, including contributions by historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and biologists, emphasizes the social and cultural contexts of African health, paying particular attention to the history of the colonial public health system and its legacy.

Engaging Youth in Activism, Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational and Intersectional Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race offers critical perspectives on contemporary research and practice directed at young people across the global north and south. Drawing upon pedagogical, programmatic, and activist work with respect to challenging inequalities and injustices for young people, the authors interrogate the dominant discourses of sexuality, gender, race, class, age and other social categories. Emerging out of a Finnish-South African collaboration, this volume does not take a comparative approach but rather a transnational one by embracing the intersections of local and global knowledges. We draw on this transnational and transdisciplinary framework and these various contexts to generate a critique of mainstream theory and pedagogical practice, as well as to subvert and disrupt such research and practice so as to speak more directly to young people's agentic and activist engagements in social justice, specifically inequalities of class, race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, and health.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of African children’s lives in times of transition, transformation, and change some twenty-two years after political emancipation in South Africa. With diverse family formations, non-marital childbearing, and diverse parenting situations prevalent in South Africa, the book covers both the conceptual and theoretical questions that explore the context of children’s experiences. It uses examples from a range of primary and secondary data sources to illustrate how resilience in children faced with adversity could be nurtured, demonstrating the links between theory and practice, and critically commenting on questions of epistemology by drawing on research with children within different African social and cultural contexts. While the volume affirms the complexities of explaining child adversity or privilege, it stresses the diversity of South African children’s experiences and the importance of adopting both children’s rights and Afro-centric perspectives to account for the commonality and diversity of childhood and children’s empowerment in diverse family systems. The contributions also provide recommendations on how to respond and intervene in children’s issues, from both practical and policy levels, in a dedicated manner to ensure that children are protected from harm, nurtured to succeed, and assisted during and after traumatic experiences. This volume represents a valuable resource for scholars and students in the fields of humanities, social science, development studies and public health, as well as policy makers, child practitioners, and child rights advocates.

Much has happened since the first appearance of AIDS in 1981: it has been identified, studied, and occasionally denied. The virus has shifted host populations and spread globally. Medicine, the social sciences, and world governments have joined forces to combat and prevent the disease. And South Africa has emerged as ground zero for the pandemic. The editors of HIV/AIDS in South Africa 25 Years On present the South African crisis as a template for addressing the myriad issues surrounding the epidemic worldwide, as the book brings together a widely scattered body of literature, analyzes psychosocial and sexual aspects contributing to HIV transmission and prevention, and delves into complex intersections of race, gender, class, and politics. Including largely overlooked populations and issues (e.g., prisoners, persons with disabilities, stigma), as well as challenges shaping future research and policy, the contributors approach their topics with rare depth, meticulous research, carefully drawn conclusions, and profound compassion. Among the topics covered: The relationship between HIV and poverty, starting from the question, "Which is the determinant and which is the consequence?" Epidemiology of HIV among women and men: concepts of femininity and masculinity, and gender inequities as they affect HIV risk; gender-specific prevention and intervention strategies. The impact of AIDS on infants and young children: risk and protective factors; care of children by HIV-positive mothers; HIV-infected children. Current prevention and treatment projects, including local-level responses, community-based work, and VCT (voluntary counseling and testing) programs. New directions: promoting circumcision, vaccine trials, "positive prevention." South Africa’s history of AIDS denialism. The urgent lessons in this book apply both globally and locally, making HIV/AIDS in South Africa 25 Years On uniquely instructive and useful for professionals working in HIV/AIDS and global public health.