Parent absenteeism and adolescent work in South Africa: An analysis of the levels and determinants of adolescents who work 10 or more hours a week

Using data from the 2010 Survey of Activities of Young People (SAYP) this paper examines the relationship between parent absenteeism and adolescents’ (10-17 years old) participation in the labour force in SouthAfrica. Due to widespread poverty and the impact of HIV/AIDS, adolescents are forced to forego schooling to seek employment. As Stanton et al. (2004) posited, parent absenteeism affects adolescents’ school completionrates and is associated with risky behaviour. This paper argues that parent absenteeism also forces adolescents to seek employment. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression are used. Results show that 1.58 adolescents per 1,000 adolescent population work 10 or more hours a week. Further, 38.7% of adolescents have at least one parent absent from the household. Almost 2% of adolescents who have at least one parent absent are not enrolled in school. Finally, adolescents are less likely to work more than 10 hours a week if a mother is absent from the household (0.34), yet more likely to work more than 10 hours if a father is absent (1.21)

Ecological approach to childhood in South Africa: An analysis of the contextual determinants

In South Africa, the educational attainment of African children has been a focal point of policy and research since the end of apartheid in 1994. Individual and policy-level determinants of child development and educational outcomes have been exhaustively investigated. A less researched perspective is the role of community and household composition on educational outcomes. The aim of this paper is to explore the socio-economic and demographic composition of communities and households that influence grade repetition among children in South Africa. The nationally representative South African General Household Survey of 2017 is analysed. The sample is children, 7–14 years old who have repeated a grade (N=529,624). Frequency distributions and multilevel modelling techniques are used to estimate the impact of household and community characteristics on child education outcomes. Results show that males (62.29%) and older children, 10–14 years old (61.27%), have higher grade repetition. In addition, children in female-headed households (54.57%) and poor households (61.13%) also have higher repetition rates. Finally, household poverty (OR: 1.617) and community poverty (OR: 1.944) are associated with increased likelihood of grade repetition. To ensure that South African children progress through school, the households and communities they are nested in require attention and intervention

Domestic violence and child health outcomes in Zimbabwe

Abstract: Background: This study intends to examine the association between domestic violence and selected negative child health outcomes in Zimbabwe. While studies have identified a number of factors affecting child health outcomes, the role of domestic violence has been neglected. Domestic violence, as a global public health concern, has been related to reproductive health outcomes, such as unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, lack of contraceptive use, preterm delivery and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. In addition, the reduction of child mortality levels worldwide has become a prominent issue and is addressed as Goal 4 in the Millennium Development Goals. However, the possibility of domestic violence being related to the health outcomes of their children has not been explored in the African context. Methods: This study is a secondary data analysis of the 2005/2006 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS). The ZDHS has been chosen as it is representative of the country as a whole. The total sample of 2,152 women who participated in the Domestic Violence module of the ZDHS was used in this study. Thus the population of interest in this study is physically abused Zimbabwean women who have children. The outcome variables of this study are poor nutritional health outcomes, stunting, wasting and underweight and under-five child mortality. The predictor variables are physical violence experiences, including, domestic violence, being hit during pregnancy and sexual violence. The data analysis happened in three stages. The first being univariate analysis of the variables in this study, to provide descriptive statistics of the study population. The second stage was bivariate analysis producing odds ratios to examine the association between each of the predictor variables with each of the outcome variables. The final stage was multivariate analysis using logistic regression and producing odds rations to examine more than one predictor variable with each outcome variable to obtain an association. Results: Associations were found between physical violence and the various negative child health outcomes. Of importance, domestic violence and being hit during pregnancy was found to increase the condition of wasting in under-five children. Similarly being hit during pregnancy is associated with increased odds of having underweight young children. Increased likelihood of the underweight condition is also associated with sexual violence experiences of the mother. However, sexual violence is not associated with stunting and / or wasting in under-five children

Risky behaviour: a new framework for understanding why young people take risks

Theories of youth risk taking range from the realist to the sociocultural. Much of this theorising, particularly in the field of epidemiology, has been strongly influenced by the Health Belief Framework. More recently, attention has shifted to understanding how young people perceive risk and what makes some of them resilient to risk taking. In this article we develop a framework that brings together diverse theoretical perspectives on youth risk taking. We draw on lessons from across the social science disciplines to inform a conceptual framework incorporating the broad context and internal processes of young people’s decisions to take risks. Our Youth Risk Interpretation Framework (Y-RIF) has been developed from insights gained during an ethnographic study conducted in South Africa (REMOVED FOR BLIND REVIEW). We argue that our framework is useful, as it offers new ways of understanding why some young people take risks while others are more cautious. It could be used to inform youth behaviour surveillance research and interventions. However, it will need to be rigorously tested

Linkages between autonomy, poverty and contraceptive use in two sub-Saharan African countries

The paper presents the interaction effect of poverty-wealth status and autonomy on modern contraceptive use in Nigeria and Namibia with a view to examining whether poor women with less autonomy are less likely to use modern contraception than other women. A weighted sample of 3,451 currently married women in 2006-07 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and 23,578 in 2008 Nigeria (DHS) are used in the analysis. In Nigeria, the odd of using modern contraception is nearly 15 times higher among rich women with more autonomy than their counterparts who are poor and are less autonomous and 5.5 times higher among Namibian women. The study concluded that contraceptive behaviors of currently married women of Namibia and Nigeria are not independent of the linkage between poverty and autonomy and thus recommended that more concerted efforts be made in addressing poverty and improving the autonomous status of women in sub-Sahara Africa

Does female autonomy affect contraceptive use among women in northern Nigeria?

Literature identified female empowerment as a predictor of positive health behaviour. However, in the context of conservative and traditional society, this is yet to be explored. This paper explores the role of female autonomy in contraceptive use among currently married women in northern Nigeria. Nationally representative Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS, 2013) data for 18,534 currently married women in northern Nigeria was analysed. Complimentary log-logistic regression (cloglog) was used to analyse the data. Current use of modern contraceptive was 6.6% among currently married women in northern Nigeria. Results show that female autonomy was significantly associated with modern contraceptive use. Respondents‘ education, wealth status and desire for no more children were associated with higher contraceptive use. Despite the conservative and religious context of northern Nigeria, female autonomy significantly predicts modern contraceptive use. Thus, empowering women in northern Nigeria, especially by education, will enable them to participate in healthy contraceptive decision making.Keywords: Female autonomy; Contraceptive; Reproductive health; northern Nigeria; Sustainable Development Goa

Compounded Exclusion: Education for Disabled Refugees in Sub-Saharan Africa

International conventions acknowledge the right of refugees and of disabled people to access quality inclusive education. Both groups struggle to assert this right, particularly in the Global South, where educational access may be hindered by system constraints, resource limitations and negative attitudes. Our concern is the intersectional and compounding effect of being a disabled refugee in Sub-Saharan Africa. Disabled refugees have been invisible in policy and service provision, reliable data is very limited, and there has been little research into their experiences of educational inclusion and exclusion. This article makes the case for research to address this gap. Three country contexts (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda) are presented to illustrate the multi-layered barriers and challenges to realizing the rights for disabled refugees in educational policy and practice. These three countries host refugees who have fled civil unrest and military conflict, economic collapse and natural disaster, and all have signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. None has available and reliable data about the numbers of disabled refugees, and there is no published research about their access to education. Arguing for an inclusive and intersectional approach and for the importance of place and history, we illustrate the complexity of the challenge. This complexity demands conceptual resources that account for several iterative and mutually constituting factors that may enable or constrain access to education. These include legislation and policy, bureaucracy and resource capacity, schools and educational institutions, and community beliefs and attitudes. We conclude with a call for accurate data to inform policy and enable monitoring and evaluation. We advocate for the realization of the right to education for disabled refugee students and progress towards the realization of quality inclusive education for all

The Leeds Evaluation of Efficacy of Detoxification Study (LEEDS) Prisons Project Study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial comparing methadone and buprenorphine for opiate detoxification

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the United Kingdom (UK), there is an extensive market for the class 'A' drug heroin and many heroin users spend time in prison. People addicted to heroin often require prescribed medication when attempting to cease their drug use. The most commonly used detoxification agents in UK prisons are currently buprenorphine and methadone, both are recommended by national clinical guidelines. However, these agents have never been compared for opiate detoxification in the prison estate and there is a general paucity of research evaluating the most effective treatment for opiate detoxification in prisons. This study seeks to address this paucity by evaluating the most routinely used interventions amongst drug users within UK prisons.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This study uses randomised controlled trial methodology to compare the open use of buprenorphine and methadone for opiate detoxification, given in the context of routine care, within three UK prisons. Prisoners who are eligible and give informed consent will be entered into the trial. The primary outcome will be abstinence status eight days after detoxification, as determined by a urine test. Secondary outcomes will be recorded during the detoxification and then at one, three and six months post-detoxification.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN58823759</p