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Messages conveyed both explicitly and implicitly in the media play an important role in shaping the public's understanding of issues, as well as in shaping associated policy, programmes and popular responses to these issues. This paper applies discourse analysis to a series of articles about children affected by HIV/AIDS published in 2002/2003 in the English-language South African press. The analysis reveals layers of moral messaging present in the reporting, the cumulative effect of which is the communication of a series of moral judgements about who is and who is not performing appropriate roles in relation to children. Discourses of moral transgression, specifically on the part of African parents and ‘families' for failing in their moral responsibilities towards their children, coalesce with discourses on anticipated moral decay among (previously innocent) children who lack their due care. A need for moral regeneration among South Africans (but implicitly black South Africans) contrasts with accolades for (usually white), middle-class individuals, who, it is implied, have gone beyond their moral duty to respond. The article argues that in each instance the particular moralism is questionable in light of both empirical evidence and the principles of human dignity that underlie the South African constitution. Children — and particularly ‘AIDS orphans' — are often presented in the press as either quintessential, innocent victims of the epidemic or as potential delinquents. While journalists' intentions are likely to be positive when representing children in these ways, the paper argues that this approach is employed at a cost, both to the public's knowledge and attitudes around the impact of HIV/AIDS, and, more importantly, to the lives of children affected by the epidemic. Keywords: Africa, discourse analysis, family, media, morality, orphans and vulnerable children African Journal of AIDS Research 2005, 4(3): 147–159

Heterosexual encounters remain the primary route for HIV transmission in Africa. Safer sex behaviour is not adopted by many women due to several social and psychological factors. This paper aims to identify socio- demographic, marital and psychosocial predictors associated with current sexual activity and condom use in Mozambican women at sexual risk for HIV/AIDS. Women (173), patients at a public hospital and at risk for HIV infection, completed measures of condom use negotiation self-efficacy, perceived barriers against safer sex, current sexual activity and condom use. Having more than 6 years of education and being younger and single were significant predictors for current sexual activity and condom use. Regarding psychosocial factors, talking about AIDS with partners, condom use negotiation self-efficacy and fewer perceived barriers to safer sex were significant predictors for current sexual activity (intention to use and buy/get condoms). Condom use negotiation self-efficacy is a significant predictor for condom use. These results should be considered in new HIV prevention intervention design in Mozambique.Keywords: HIV prevention, Mozambique, sexual behaviours, women’s health

Although the number of new HIV infections has declined by over 30% in the past decade, the number of people who acquire HIV each year remains unacceptably high. In 2014 the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that there were about 2 million new HIV infections. The virus continues to spread, particularly in key populations, such as men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender individuals, sex workers and people who inject drugs. In Africa, young women have the highest HIV incidence rates. Scaling up known efficacious HIV prevention strategies for these groups at high risk is therefore a high priority. HIV prevention has generally been targeted at HIV-negative individuals or in some instances, entire communities. Prevention efforts are, however, shifting from a narrow focus on HIV-uninfected persons to a continuum of prevention that includes both HIV-negative and HIV-positive individuals. Given that a single HIV prevention intervention is unlikely to be able to alter the epidemic trajectory as HIV epidemics in communities are complex and comprise a mosaic of different risk factors and different routes of transmission, there is need to provide combination prevention. Hence, a mix of behavioural, biomedical and structural HIV prevention options is likely to be needed to alter the course of the HIV epidemic. The combination of HIV prevention interventions needed will vary depending on cultural context, the population targeted and the stage of the epidemic. This paper reviews the available HIV prevention strategies for young women and discusses new HIV prevention approaches in development. Keywords: PrEP, treatment as prevention, condoms, young women

This paper explores the role of the family in caring for orphans and other children in poor urban communities having some of the highest levels of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world. A range of family forms in Swaziland was found to be caring for orphans. Child-headed households and lone-elderly carers were not the most common; maternal kin played a more important role in orphan care than did paternal kin, indicating both stresses due to AIDS and the dynamic nature of the family. Women of all ages were bearing the brunt of the extra care responsibilities caused by the epidemic. There was limited involvement in children's well-being by agencies of any kind and orphan care remained largely situated within kin structures. The AIDS epidemic was impacting on families in a variety of ways, with a corresponding increase in poverty and vulnerability. Carers did not perceive orphans as a separate category of children requiring assistance over and above any other vulnerable child. Families require assistance at the household, community and national level. Meanwhile, community-based initiatives were poorly developed. Welfare sector policies should strengthen the family model of childcare by increasing support to the poorest families rather than treating orphans as a separate category of vulnerable children and thereby excluding other needy children.Keywords: Africa, family care, gender roles, patriarchal society, social welfareAfrican Journal of AIDS Research 2005, 4(3): 161–171

For children, the death of a parent initiates a rite of passage, a three-stage process: separation from their status as ‘son' or ‘daughter', a period of liminality with rituals of mourning, burial and interment, and finally re-aggregation into a re-formed social network with a new status as a ‘child without parents'. Many orphans in Botswana are excluded from the funerals of their parents; they are structurally invisible. Sometimes, particularly in the case of young children, they are taken to another place, thus they are literally not seen. In the case of older children, some complete all three stages of the rite of passage and the transformation results in clear aggregation into a new status and role. Those children are often resilient and cope well with the trials of orphanhood. For others, liminality is prolonged and the orphans are not reincorporated into a new social network; they are marginalised and may seek ‘belonging', ‘acceptance' and ‘membership' in alternative relationships and in socially unacceptable ways. This paper uses Van Gennep's concept of rite of passage as a framework for examining the coping strategies of orphans in Botswana, where some children demonstrate resilience as they emerge from liminality while others seem stuck in perpetual marginalisation.Keywords: Africa, cultural involution, coping strategies, exclusion, orphans and vulnerable children, resilience, rite of passage, social networksAfrican Journal of AIDS Research 2005, 4(3): 195–204