Recent HIV prevalence trends among pregnant women and all women in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for HIV estimates

OBJECTIVES: National population-wide HIV prevalence and incidence trends in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are indirectly estimated using HIV prevalence measured among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC), among other data. We evaluated whether recent HIV prevalence trends among pregnant women are representative of general population trends. DESIGN: Serial population-based household surveys in 13 SSA countries. METHODS: We calculated HIV prevalence trends among all women aged 15–49 years and currently pregnant women between surveys conducted from 2003 to 2008 (period 1) and 2009 to 2012 (period 2). Log-binomial regression was used to test for a difference in prevalence trend between the two groups. Prevalence among pregnant women was age-standardized to represent the age distribution of all women. RESULTS: Pooling data for all countries, HIV prevalence declined among pregnant women from 6.5 [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.3–7.9%] to 5.3% (95% CI 4.2–6.6%) between periods 1 and 2, whereas it remained unchanged among all women at 8.4% (95% CI 8.0–8.9%) in period 1 and 8.3% (95% CI 7.9–8.8%) in period 2. Prevalence declined by 18% (95% CI −9–38%) more in pregnant women than nonpregnant women. Estimates were similar in Western, Eastern, and Southern regions of SSA; none were statistically significant (P > 0.05). HIV prevalence decreased significantly among women aged 15–24 years while increasing significantly among women 35–49 years, who represented 29% of women but only 15% of pregnant women. Age-standardization of prevalence in pregnant women did not reconcile the discrepant trends because at older ages prevalence was lower among pregnant women than nonpregnant women. CONCLUSION: As HIV prevalence in SSA has shifted toward older, less-fertile women, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has declined more rapidly than prevalence in women overall. Interpretation of ANC prevalence data to inform national HIV estimates should account for both age-specific fertility patterns and HIV-related sub-fertility

Work Demands, Work-Family Conflict, And Commitment Amongst Nurses In Eswatini

Work-family conflict is an inter-role conflict where the demands of work spill over to the family domain and cause interference between the work and family domains. Work-family conflict can present adverse outcomes to the organisation, such as impacting the commitment to stay with an organisation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between work-family conflict and job demands. The study also investigated the relationship between work-family conflict and the two organisational commitment dimensions: continuance commitment and affective commitment. In addition, the role of gender was examined to ascertain the differences in workfamily conflict for females and males. A quantitative approach was used to collect data and test the statistical relationship among the study variables. An online survey questionnaire was sent to 564 Nurses in all the public and mission hospitals in Eswatini, with 455 Nurses participating in the study. Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between variables of work-family conflict, job demands, continuance commitment, affective commitment, and professional commitment. The study findings showed a positive relationship between work-family conflict and job demands, a negative relationship between work-family conflict and affective commitment, and a positive relationship between work-family conflict and continuance commitment. An independent t-test analysis examined the relationship between work-family conflict and gender. The results showed no significant differences in work-family conflict for females and males

Against all odds: The role of ‘community cultural wealth’ in overcoming challenges as a black African woman

Academic challenges for students from ‘previously disadvantaged backgrounds’ do not necessarily begin at university, but start during their school years, as was the case for the author. This article is in three parts. Firstly, the author presents a brief narration of the challenges faced before she went to university, which influenced her undergraduate progress. Secondly, the author describes the key challenges she experienced as an undergraduate in particular courses and in a postgraduate education course. Thirdly, she focuses on the challenges she encountered during her first work experience as a black African PhD student and tutor on an education campus. In particular, the author focuses on key challenging incidents and how she approached and engaged with them to enable a successful journey through university as a student and young academic staff member. In the form of a first-person narration, the qualitative research method of ‘testimony’ is used to reflect critically on her academic and professional journeys as a black African woman in the post-apartheid era. Testimony was chosen because it provides an epistemic lens to support an analytical inquiry into experiences and intellectual understanding of self and community

Exploring working conditions in selected rural schools: teachers’ experiences

Even though quality education is important for the empowerment of individuals and development of society, some rural schools in South Africa continue to function amid tough conditions. Because little research on the topic exists, with this article I explore and identify teachers’ experiences of the working conditions in rural schools in South Africa. A qualitative, descriptive and interpretive case study was used, and 5 schools were purposively selected as cases for the study, 2 primary and 3 secondary schools. Interviews and observations with 11 teachers provided insight into the difficult working conditions that teachers in some rural school need to contend with. Teachers in rural schools continue to experience difficult working conditions and due to their loyalty to their schools, they do not relocate to other schools. Dilapidated infrastructure, a lack of chalk boards, insufficient textbooks, among others, hamper teacher’s working conditions and constrain their teaching. The participants in the study indicated that principals played a fundamental role in supporting and inspiring teachers who work under challenging conditions

Student teachers’ perceptions of a Wits rural teaching experience project: What to learn and improve

In South Africa all universities send education student teachers to schools for teaching practice as part of their preparation for teaching. Of concern is the lack of research investigating pre-service teachers’ experiences of teaching practice, especially in rural and farm schools. Several rural teaching practice projects have been established by various teacher education training institutions in South Africa, in order to introduce student teachers to rurality and rural and farm schools. The introduction of the projects suggests an acknowledgement of varied school contexts and pedagogies, and the importance of making education student teachers aware of them. The project use a qualitative approach and semi-structured reflective discussions and reflective journals to collect data. The findings show that education student teachers want to be part of the rural community and schools, rather than being ‘tourists’ and ‘scientists’. Collaboration between pre-service and in-service teachers is identified as crucial to share teaching skills.     

Like a doll made of old cloth : a critical analysis of the influence of the radio programme Khalamdumbadumbane on Swazi discourses of femininity

This project concerns the way the radio programme "Khalamdumbadumbane" functions as non-formal education and influences discourses of femininity in Swaziland. I have engaged in critical research in an attempt to show how the media (more specifically radio in this context) influence women's perceptions of themselves in a way which sustains the inequality between sexes. I also show how the programme "Khalamdumbadumbane" as a popular and topical programme has become a social institution, exerting its hidden power to ensure· the dominance of males within the Swazi society. Women's experiences have been recorded in transcribed interviews and these have been discussed and analysed for common themes. The following themes are discussed: Power relations, Cultural identity and the Discourse of rights. The first two themes have been further divided into subthemes: Imbalance I inequality between the sexes, patriarchal family system, disregard for women, abusive relationships, Swazi values versus Western values and the religious discourse. From interviews with the host of the radio programme in question and with Swazi women, I show how this programme has influenced women's self perceptions through their acceptance of the problem solving as 'help' and not as ideological propaganda for patriarchy. Bibliography: pages 99-108

Pre-service teachers’ professional learning experiences during rural teaching practice in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga Province

The concept of student teaching practice is globally rooted in training pre-service teachers to work within diverse schools and learner populations, in dissimilar contexts. It is also a drive towards the development of knowledge, professionalism, sense of efficacy, and flexibility in their performance and interactions. There is seemingly little research that has been done in South Africa to gain insight into the pre-service teachers’ development of knowledge and professionalism during rural teaching practice. In developing countries like South Africa, teaching practice challenges are usually severe, particularly in rural schools, where there is generally a paucity of information on the nature of school-based support pre-service teachers receive. In the article we explore pre-service teachers’ professional learning experiences during teaching practice in Acornhoek, rural Bushbuckridge. The project used qualitative semi-structured reflective discussions and students’ reflective journals to collect data. The findings show that pre-service teachers experienced a shift of mind as they engaged in professional thinking, learning and meaning making.Keywords: complexity; leadership; Mpumalanga province; pre-service teachers; professional learning; rural school, situative theory; teaching experienc