Gender identities and roles : the representation of women and children in South African films about HIV and AIDS

This dissertation examines representations of women and children in South African films about HIV and AIDS, paying particular attention to issues relating to the advancement and empowerment of the two groups. The dissertation focuses on two films: Yesterday (Darrell Roodt, 2004) and Life Above All (Oliver Schmitz, 2010). These two films represent marginalised communities and identities. Yesterday focuses on the experiences of rural women, while Life Above All focuses on women and children living in a small town on the urban periphery. In order to contextualise the two films as well as the textual and theoretical analysis found in the body of the dissertation, the first chapter provides a brief outline of some of the concerns regarding the representations of women and children in South African films about HIV and AIDS. These concerns include the debate surrounding the authenticity of the representations of poor, black women by male, middle-class, white filmmakers, as well as the authenticity of the representations of children by adult filmmakers. Chapter 2 provides additional contextual information by defining and considering the various concepts and theories on which the study is built. These include the naturalist, humanist and pluralist methods of representing HIV/AIDS, as well as the semiotic and discursive approaches to analysing audio-visual texts. Chapter 3 consists of a close textual analysis of Yesterday. The chapter problematises representations that place too much emphasis on marginal communities‘ need for external help. It argues that the film‘s focus on generating sympathy from external viewers with the 2 hope that they might be persuaded to help women like the film‘s main character, Yesterday, hinders the promotion of empowerment. Chapter 4 critically analyses the representation of children in Life Above All, with special attention paid to self-development and agency. This chapter argues that the film neglects children‘s self-development and long-term empowerment by placing too much value on the virtues of selfless sacrifice. Chapter 5 concludes that the use of stereotypes and the prioritisation of easy to understand educational information and narratives in South African films about HIV/AIDS hinder a deeper understanding of identities as well as the promotion of women‘s and children‘s empowerment. Effective collaboration between filmmakers and the represented groups would lead to representations of identities that are more truthful to the complexities of the experiences of those infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS. In addition, I argue that increased participation of female filmmakers would lead to more diversified representations of women‘s and children‘s identities and experiences

Heroines, victims and survivors: female minors as active agents in films about African colonial and postcolonial conflicts

This thesis analyses the representations of girls as active agents in fictional films about African colonial and postcolonial conflicts. Representations of these girls are located within local and global contexts, and viewed through an intersectional lens that sees girls as trebly marginalised as "female," "child soldiers" and "African." A cultural approach that combines textual and contextual analyses is used to draw links between the case study films and the societies within which they are produced and consumed. The thesis notes the shift that occurs between the representations of girls in anti-colonial struggles and postcolonial wars as a demonstration of ideological underpinnings that link these representations to their socio-political contexts. For films about African anti-colonial conflicts, the author looks at Sarafina! (Darrell Roodt, 1992) and Flame (Ingrid Sinclair, 1996). Representations in the optimistic Sarafina! are used to mark a trajectory that leads to the representations in Flame, which is characterised by postcolonial disillusionment. On the other hand, Heart of Fire/Feuerherz (Luigi Falorni, 2008) and War Witch/Rebelle (Kim Nguyen, 2012), which are produced within the context of postcolonial wars, demonstrate the influences of global politics on the representations of the African girl and the wars she is caught up in. The thesis finds that films about anti-colonial wars are largely presented from an African perspective, although that perspective is at times male and more symbolic than an exploration of girls' multiple voices and subject positions. In these films, girls who participate in the conflicts are often represented as brave and heroic, a powerful indication of the moral strength of the African nationalists' cause. On the contrary, films about African postcolonial wars largely represent girls as innocent and sometimes helpless victims of these "unjust wars." The representations in the four case study films are significant in bringing to the fore some of the experiences of girls in African political conflicts. However, they also indicate that sometimes representations of girls become signifiers of ideas relating to local and global socio-political, economic, and other interests rather than a means for expressing the voices of the girls that these films purport to represent

The effects of price and non-price policies on cigarette consumption in South Africa

The health consequences of smoking are serious and have been frequently detailed. A reduction in tobacco-related mortality hinges upon the ability to reduce tobacco usage. There is overwhelming evidence that higher cigarette prices reduce cigarettes demand, but little is known about the combined e⁄ect of price and non-price policies. This paper extends the analysis of price elasticities by estimating the e⁄ect of changes in price and non-price legislations in South Africa. Annual time-series data from 1961 to 2016 are used, with a policy index constructed to capture the instances of non-price tobacco legislation. The combined impact is estimated using a vector error correction model and a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model. The long-run own-price elasticities lie between -0.55 and -0.72, while the income elasticities lie between 0.39 and 0.49. The coefcients of the changing tobacco policies and changing market structure show that they contribute to a modest reduction in cigarette consumption. The short-run deviations from the steady state are presented using the error correction term. Cigarette demand is responsive to prices and non-pricing policies but failure to control for non-pricing policies overstates the price e⁄ect. This suggests that both prices and non-pricing legislation are e⁄ective in reducing cigarette consumption

Internationalization of teaching and learning in public health

Due to the increased interconnectedness in the world, healthcare workers and policy makers now widely recognize that health transcends national boundaries, with global political and economic impact. Unfortunately, existing evidence suggests that the current global public health workforce is unprepared to confront the challenges posed by globalization. There is growing recognition of the need for the internationalization of curriculum (IoC), and the development of educational programmes that adequately prepare the public health workforce to deal with global health issues. The present literature review aims to examine the current perspectives, pedagogical approaches, theoretical or policy issues and debates related to (and explores different ways of improving) IoC in public health. A systematic search of literature up to 22 January 2018 was undertaken in the following databases in addition to google scholar: MEDLINE; EMBASE and PsycInFo. Data analysis involved writing annotated summaries of each paper and classifying the papers according to which of the questions they address, displaying the data, comparing the themes across papers, and drawing inferences and conclusions. The results suggest that internationalization of the public health curriculum, overall, can enable universities and individuals to meet both local and global social accountabilities and responsibilities. However, the way that IoC is defined, along with the internationalization model and pedagogical approach taken, have an impact on the benefits that can be realised

Reducing substance misuse and related problems: How can unhealthy alcohol users and problem drug users be effectively intervened with in general hospital settings?

Background: There is a high prevalence of unhealthy alcohol use and problem drug use among patients presenting to general hospital settings. However, many unhealthy alcohol users and problem drug users in these settings are not even aware, or do not acknowledge that they have such problems. Their presentation to hospital for the treatment of other conditions offers an opportunity to engage with them. However, there is uncertainty over how best to identify, assess and intervene with this population. Aim: To investigate how unhealthy alcohol users or problem drug users can be effectively identified, assessed and intervened with when they present to general hospital settings for the treatment of other conditions. Methods: This thesis is based on six published papers that used systematic review, meta-regression and Delphi methods. Main findings: To date, research on interventions for unhealthy alcohol use in general hospital settings has focused on brief interventions (BIs). Multiple session BIs are likely to be beneficial for unhealthy alcohol use in these settings. Where targeted screening and intervention is the strategy of choice, a focus on gastroenterology and emergency medicine is a promising way to target resources for unhealthy alcohol use. There is lack of evidence on how to effectively identify and intervene with problem drug users. The available evidence favours the ASSIST as the problem drug use screening instrument of choice. There is also lack of evidence to inform which comprehensive substance misuse assessment package to use in these settings. Conclusions: There is still need for robustly designed research on how to effectively identify, assess and intervene with unhealthy alcohol users and problem drug users within general hospital settings. It is to be hoped that the body of work presented in this thesis will, effectively, contribute to the development stage for other primary research in the future

Stepped wedge trials with continuous recruitment require new ways of thinking.

OBJECTIVES: There is substantial variation in the design of stepped wedge trials. Many recruit participants continuously over time, although the methodological literature has tended not to differentiate closely between continuous recruitment and discrete sampling. We argue for a deeper understanding of the special features of stepped wedge trials with continuous recruitment. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: This is a commentary and informal review. RESULTS: We discuss the scheduling of recruitment and implementation in continuous time and how contamination might be avoided. We also offer some suggestions on reporting and terminology for stepped wedge trials with continuous recruitment and comment on issues for analysis. CONCLUSION: Repeated cross-section and continuous recruitment stepped wedge trials are not the same thing. More work is needed to develop the theory and practice of stepped wedge designs with continuous recruitment. Thoughtful approaches to design and clarity of reporting are vital

Making the agriculture sector work for youth: A tool to promote young men and women’s engagement in growing root, tuber and banana crops.

Using data gathered from projects implemented by the International Potato Center (CIP) and the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, this paper first seeks to debunk some common myths and highlights ways to engage young men and women in agriculture in ways that are beneficial to them. It also proposes a tool, consisting of a checklist of questions, that could be used by agriculture research and development practitioners to help them ensure their agricultural projects in Africa effectively engage with youth, with a focus on root, tuber and banana (RTB) crops

The dog-leg: an alternative to a cross-over design for pragmatic clinical trials in relatively stable populations

Background: A cross-over trial design is more powerful than a parallel groups design, but requires that treatment effects do not carry over from one period of the trial to the next. We focus here on interventions in chronic disease populations where the control is routine care: in such cases we cannot assume the intervention effect is easily washed out in crossing over from the experimental intervention back to the control. Methods: We introduce an alternative trial design for these situations, and investigate its performance. One group is assessed before and after the experimental intervention, whereas two other groups provide respective, independent treatment comparisons in each period. We call this a dog-leg design because of the pattern of assessments in the three groups. The dog-leg design is reminiscent of a stepped wedge design, but with a reduced schedule of assessments and with the notable difference that not all groups receive the intervention. Results: If the correlation between baseline and follow-up is <0.72, the dog-leg design is more efficient than a parallel groups design with a baseline assessment. The dog-leg design also requires fewer assessments in total than a parallel groups design where participants are only assessed once, at follow-up. Conclusions: The dog-leg design is simple, and has some attractive properties. Though there is a risk of differential attrition in the three arms, the design’s good performance relative to alternatives makes it a useful addition to the methodologist’s toolkit