Undernutrition, brain growth and intellectual development

No Abstract. South African Medical Journal Vol. 96(9) (Part 2) 2006: 862-86

The discursive construction of childhood and youth in AIDS interventions in Lesotho's education sector: Beyond global-local dichotomies

This is the post-print version of this article. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning D,Society and Space 28(5) 791 – 810, 2010, available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Pion.In southern Africa interventions to halt the spread of AIDS and address its social impacts are commonly targeted at young people, in many cases through the education sector. In Lesotho, education-sector responses to AIDS are the product of negotiation between a range of ‘local’ and ‘global’ actors. Although many interventions are put forward as government policy and implemented by teachers in schools, funding is often provided by bilateral and multilateral donors, and the international ‘AIDS industry’—in the form of UN agencies and international NGOs—sets agendas and makes prescriptions. This paper analyses interviews conducted with policy makers and practitioners in Lesotho and a variety of documents, critically examining the discourses of childhood and youth that are mobilised in producing changes in education policy and practice to address AIDS. Focusing on bursary schemes, life-skills education, and rights-based approaches, the paper concludes that, although dominant ‘global’ discourses are readily identified, they are not simply imported wholesale from the West, but rather are transformed through the organisations and personnel involved in designing and implementing interventions. Nonetheless, the connections through which these discourses are made, and children are subjectified, are central to the power dynamics of neoliberal globalisation. Although the representations of childhood and youth produced through the interventions are hybrid products of local and global discourses, the power relations underlying them are such that they, often unintentionally, serve a neoliberal agenda by depicting young people as individuals in need of saving, of developing personal autonomy, or of exercising individual rights.RGS-IB

Severe neuropathy due to inhalant abuse in adolescents from Pretoria

Inhalation of volatile agents, or solvent abuse, is a dangerous pastime practised by many young adolescents in various parts of the world. Benzine, a distillate of petroleum, is a cheap and readily available solvent that is often inhaled or “sniffed” to produce a short-lived feeling of euphoria or disorientation. The aim of this report is to describe four adolescents with severe polyneuropathies secondary to chronic benzine inhalation who were seen at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria’s Neurology Department. Methods and patients: Four adolescent boys aged 15–18 years presented to the Department of Neurology from 2011 to 2013 with progressive weakness and muscle atrophy. Results: On examination all patients showed signs of a severe motor and sensory neuropathy. Two were wheelchair bound at the time of presentation and an initial diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome was considered. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis was normal and electromyography showed severe mixed motor and sensory mainly axonal polyneuropathies in all patients. All investigations for causes of neuropathies were normal, but all patients eventually admitted that they had been abusing benzine by inhaling it for a period of at least six months. The inhalation occurred as a group activity, involving many children. Conclusion: Inhalant abuse appears to be a common practice amongst adolescents from Pretoria. It can lead to a catastrophic polyneuropathy, which should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a young patient presenting with a Guillain-Barré syndrome-type of clinical picture. Awareness amongst schools and drug programmes should be raised to prevent this tragic and highly disabling condition.http://medpharm.tandfonline.com/loi/ojfp20am201