The Impact of AIDS on the Botswana Civil Service: A Case Study of the Police and Prison Services

That HIV/AIDS has had an enormous impact on southern Africa in general, and in Botswana in particular, is not in doubt. Numerous studies have documented certain aspects of the problem—high HIV prevalence rates, increasing numbers of orphans and vulnerable children, declining average life expectancy, and a high number of deaths among adults during their most productive years. Scholars have engaged in speculation about the possible impacts that this disease might have on social relationships, economic growth and development, and governance in both the near and the long terms. But these studies are only forecasts of possible futures, not data driven analyses. This study closely examines data available from two agencies in the Botswana civil service, the police and prisons services in an effort to assess, albeit indirectly, any impact that the HIV/AIDS crisis may have had on the workforce. Although the AIDS epidemic in the country as a whole was reflected in the experience of these services, neither agency suffered the devastating effects some feared.     

Towards a holistic theory of speaker credibility

ABSTRACT

Recognising that the credibility of speakers is important, especially within the political context, this article argues that an adequate conceptualisation of the construct of speaker credibility is needed and that such a conceptualisation should be premised on an acceptable ethical framework. The article then evaluates the often used ethical systems and, subsequently, proposes criteria for ethically acceptable persuasive communication, to which political communication belongs. The major theoretical perspectives within which speaker credibility has been conceptualised, labelled structuralist, functionalist and constructivist, are critically evaluated. A holistic theoretical view of speaker credibility is then proposed, in which speaker credibility is understood as a construct with a hierarchically ordered stock of universal and context-specific dimensions of relational, content-related competence, performance and moral qualities.     

Managing and controlling HIV/AIDS talk among Ghanaians living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

This study explored the meanings people attribute to talking about living with HIV/AIDS. Framed by interpersonal and health communication scholarship based on disclosure and the meanings of talk about illness, people living with HIV/AIDS are asked to describe how and why they discussed their health condition with others. Interviews (focus group and one-on-one) were conducted with 120 people living with HIV/AIDS. A grounded theory analysis of the interviews revealed how communication about HIV/AIDS may be particularly meaningful because it is something people feel they can control during what is already a highly stressful and turbulent time. However, attempts to manage communication are challenged by constraints imposed by others, such as unfavourable and unpredictable reactions to disclosure, which ultimately place limits on how people living with HIV/AIDS control information about them.     

Sex workers’ responses to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This article engages with the voices of women sex workers during the peak of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in New Zealand. The late-1980s saw the formation of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective, a sex worker led organisation that contracted with the government to provide a community-based national response to HIV and AIDS. The article explores the challenges sex workers faced to sustain and implement the use of condoms in their daily professional and personal lives. These included pressure from clients to forego the use of condoms, the risk of carrying condoms amidst the threat of arrest, and the struggle to manage the use of condoms in their personal sex lives. The paper traces both the widespread support for safe sex and the fractures and tensions that emerged as many sex workers mobilised to establish a community-based response to one of the most devastating health crises of the late-twentieth century.     

论公安机关在艾滋病防治中的作用

艾滋病防治工作具有较强的法律性、政策性和专业性,为促进公安机关对高危人群的管理工作,充分发挥公安机关在艾滋病防治中的职能作用,1转变思想观念,共同抗击艾滋病;2加强多部门合作,探索防治艾滋病经验;3坚持标本兼治,打防结合;4提高民警素质,提升管理水平     

论HIV感染者/AIDS患者的婚姻自主权

政府歧视性对待HIV感染者 /AIDS患者婚姻自主权的法规在一定程度上加剧了社会本就存在对HIVAIDS相关者的羞辱与歧视 .维护社会公共利益成为剥夺HIV感染者 /AIDS患者的婚姻自主权的理由 ,其根源是要求个人人权屈服于政府的干预手段 ,使人权的目标与社会公共利益对立起来。正确的法律选择是尊重HIV感染者 /AIDS患者婚姻自主权 ,采取正确合理的干预措施 ,真正维护社会公共利益。     

中医药、针灸防治艾滋病的研究与探讨

本文结合文献论述了艾滋病(AIDS)发病与防治研究概况,着重阐述了中医对AIDS的认识以及中医药、针灸的防治作用。指出其病因病机是外感湿邪淫毒,损伤机体;内伤于房事不节,气血双亏。治疗采用除湿解毒、补气益血的方法,通过中医药、针灸来抑制AIDS病毒,提高机体免疫力,调整神经、内分泌功能,抗感染,改善微循环及保护肾功能。本文还拟定了中医药、针灸治疗AIDS的综合措施。     

社会工作介入“受艾滋病影响的失依儿童”抗逆力养成——基于河南省ZMD市的循证研究

本文在社会工作视域下检视受艾滋病影响的失依儿童的抗逆力。本文发现这些儿童表现出生成的差异性、养成的向光性和实践的断裂性等特质。坚持循证实践,依据解构困境、建构意义、重构生活、整合资源的逻辑,进行社会工作专业干预,能有效地促进服务对象抗逆力的提升。     

艾滋病人犯罪的司法难点与解决对策探微

在谈＂艾＂色变的当今社会,艾滋病人已成为一个特殊的群体,被＂标签化＂。而基于这一特殊身份,艾滋病人犯罪造成司法办案过程中的诸多困难。但是面对艾滋病人犯罪愈发的严重态势,必须及时应对并提出解决对策,探讨控制这种态势的有效途径。     

公安机关艾滋病信息管理的制度建设

从现行立法和实践情况看，公安机关艾滋病信息管理的规范化建设问题没有受到充分重视，专门性的规定不多。对策：1．充分认识到公安机关参与艾滋病信息管理的重要意义；2．采取多种手段不断提高公安机关管理艾滋病信息的规范化水平；3．采取有效措施保障艾滋病病毒感染者和艾滋病人的个人隐私权。