Experiences of youths participating in combination social protection and HIV prevention programme in resource constrained settings of Gauteng Province in South Africa: a collective case study design
- Authors: Zibengwa, Enock
- Date: 2023-04
- Subjects: HIV infections -- Prevention , HIV (Viruses) , HIV infections -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27347 , vital:66944
- Description: South Africa continues to experience unacceptably high Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV incidence rates among youths aged 15 to 24 years. Remarkably, this is despite the numerous youth HIV prevention programmes that have been implemented in the country. Unfortunately, the programmes have not significantly curbed the spread of HIV due to the partial and fragmented nature of their implementation. The programmes are also observed to be weak in addressing complex economic factors recognised as important structural drivers for vulnerabilities that put youths at risk of HIV infection. To address this challenge, there is increased adoption and implementation of the Combination Social Protection introduced in this research as the CSP by Non-Governmental Organisations NGOs. The CSP is a youth empowerment programming strategy whose critical foundations are entrenched in combining economic strengthening interventions and HIV prevention education. CSP could provide youths with a set of indispensable life skills that enhance their competencies and agency to make informed and effective decisions regarding their health and economic lives. Despite its growing traction, little is known regarding links between the CSP and its abilities to improve HIV prevention outcomes for youths. Given the paucity of research, this study aimed to explore the experiences of youths participating in the CSP and HIV prevention programme, with a particular focus on the resource-constrained settings of Gauteng Province in South Africa. This study employed a collective case study design, within the qualitative approach, and was exploratory. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 30 youths from six established NGOs in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). Qualitative thematic analysis was employed as a data analysis strategy. Focus groups were separately with six practitioners from the same six NGOs, and five officials from the Department of Social Development (DSD). Both phases of data collection were guided by interview themes, which were aligned with the objectives of the study. The findings of the study point to the fact that the CSP’s innovative and holistic approach offered numerous transformative and empowering benefits to youths. It equipped them with basic informational resources, capabilities, and social assets to safeguard their health and aid their economic advancement. The programme’s mixedgender sessions provided space, freedom, and support for youths to engage on issues of gender, differential access to health and socio-economic opportunities. Another major finding of the study was that improvement of economic aptitude (brought about by financial literacy education), employability, and entrepreneurship training stirred a sense of agency and purposefulness among youths, which in turn, prompted them to be more focused on achieving long-term objectives instead of indulging in risky sexual practices. Conversely, findings revealed that the programme had limited opportunities and did not create an adequate supportive environment for youths to develop successful entrepreneurial or income-generating projects. There was also no structure to assist youths to access apprenticeship and employment markets. The study specifically recognised that the programme’s efforts to develop youths’ entrepreneurship and employability capabilities were curtailed by a lack of mentorshipnand access to financial capital for start-up costs. With these findings in mind, recommendations are made for the creation of an enabling environment by purposefully engaging youths, establishing collaborative relations with communities, and building networks with businesses and financial institutions that can help youths with capital, mentorship, and linkages to internship and wage employment. Such collaborations could be fundamental in unravelling the impact of the programme on building livelihoods and reducing HIV among youths. Hence, this study proposes a model with strategies to support the successful implementation of economic strengthening interventions for youths. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-04
The impact of HIV/AIDS on the delivery of maternal health care services of selected primary health care clinics of Peddie in the Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Mangi, Nozuko Glenrose https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9158-8820
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Maternal health services , Primary health care , HIV infections -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24576 , vital:63209
- Description: The aim of this descriptive study was to explore the impact of HIV/AIDS on the maternal health programme at selected Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics in the Peddie sub-district, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This study showed that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has had major influences on the rendering of maternal health services in this sub-district. An understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the delivery of the maternal health programme in the Peddie Primary Health Clinics will potentially help the District Health Service office, as well as the clinic managers and professional nurses to formulate strategies to strengthen the maternal health programme. This data will also be helpful when developing plans to cope with the heavy work-load of the clinics offering maternal health services, and to address the attitudes and concerns of the professional nurses working in the PHC clinics in this area. Thirty professional nurses working at 10 clinics responded to the questionnaires which elicited questions pertaining to the impact of HIV/AIDS on the rendering of their services. As part of the data gathering procedures, standardised notice boards at the PHC clinics were used to document the services rendered. The numbers of ANC clients attended to each of the clinics per week were collected in routine attendance tick registers used in the clinics for recording and monitoring statistics in the maternal health programme. The data was analysed to examine the possible impact of HIV/AIDS on maternal health services rendered by registered nurses/midwives working in the PHC clinics. The registered nurses who responded to the questionnaires (Annexure H) made several suggestions. These included the following: (i) encouraged more training (11 nurses), (ii) addition of more staff members, (iii) to have specialized staff for management of maternal HIV. Because of the study limitations such as the sample size of 10 clinics with a total of 30 nurses who were studied, the study may not be generalised to the whole of the Eastern Cape Province. The study however did provide baseline information on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the maternal health programme. The study findings were that HIV/AIDS has had an impact on the delivery of the maternal health programme due to the extra services brought about by the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the maternal health programme at the PHC level in Peddie. The research provided insight into issues that are crucial to the delivery of maternal health programmes in rural areas. , Thesis (MCur) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2011
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- Date Issued: 2011