Amplifying youth voices: young people's recommendations for policy and practice to enhance vaccine acceptability.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for increased vaccine availability and uptake, with vaccine hesitancy posing a significant barrier, particularly among young adults. Evidence from various countries highlight high levels of hesitancy among young people, necessitating targeted interventions. Engaging young adults as key stakeholders in shaping public health strategies is crucial, as their perspectives can enhance vaccine acceptance.

Provider perspectives on adolescent access to contraception in South Africa.

Background:  Poor access to contraception influences adolescent health outcomes and may lead to sexual and reproductive health challenges. Unmet sexual and reproductive health should contribute to unplanned adolescent pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and other conditions. Therefore, it is crucial to enable adolescents to access appropriate contraceptive methods easily.

How do South African policies address provision of contraception among adolescents?

Background:  The South African government has pioneered several policy documents that emphasise the importance of sexual and reproductive health (SRH).

Aim:  We examined how national policies address access and provision of contraception to adolescents in South Africa.

Setting:  South African national policies.

Pregnant women's satisfaction with the quality of antenatal care and the continued willingness to use health facility care in Lusaka district, Zambia.

Background: Antenatal healthcare (ANC) reduces maternal and neonatal deaths in low-middle-income countries. Satisfaction with ANC services and perception of quality of care are critical determinants of service utilization. The study aimed to assess pregnant women's satisfaction with ANC and identify sociodemographic factors associated with satisfaction and their continued willingness to use or recommend the facility to relatives or friends, in Lusaka district, Zambia.

Factors associated with underweight, overweight, stunting and wasting among primary school-going children participating in a school health initiative in South Africa.

Background: The double burden of malnutrition among children remains a public health challenge in South Africa. In response, the government of South Africa developed the National Health Policy and Implementation Guidelines for school-going children in 2003. This policy was subsequently upgraded to 'The Integrated School Health Programme' in 2012.

Accessing HIV services in Botswana: perspectives of men who have sex with men and other stakeholders.

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) represent an increasing number of new HIV infections in Botswana. Many in Botswana still hold discriminatory views against people who engage in same-sex practices. While it is well documented that stigma and discrimination undermine efforts to prevent HIV, the literature about the perception and experiences of discrimination against MSM in accessing HIV services in Botswana is scant.

Beyond Access: Can a School Health Initiative Facilitate Healthcare Services Utilisation for School-Going Children?

Accessing quality healthcare services is critical to addressing the different health challenges confronting school-going children, especially those in low-resource communities. However, the evidence of access to services is utilisation and not the mere availability of such services. This study explored caregivers' descriptions of the factors influencing the access and utilisation of quality healthcare services for school-going children and their perceptions of the services provided through the integrated school health programme in South Africa.

Perspectives about social support among unmarried pregnant university students in South Africa.

Background: Pregnant young women in an academic environment are susceptible to stressors associated with unintended pregnancy and academic demands of universities. The challenges they face may be exacerbated by lack of social support, putting them at risk of psychological disorders such as depression. Women who receive social support during pregnancy and postpartum experience less emotional distress and report greater maternal satisfaction.

Caregivers' health-seeking behaviour for children participating in an integrated school health programme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Background: Caregivers are active members of the healthcare team, and the uniqueness of their role in caring for a sick child is holistic, as no other healthcare team member is consistently aware of all the facets of the child's life. The integrated school health programme (ISHP) aims to improve access to healthcare services and promote equity for school-going children by delivering comprehensive healthcare services. However, not much attention has been paid to understanding caregivers' health-seeking experiences within the context of the ISHP.

A retrospective study exploring how South African newspapers framed Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders over an 11-year period (2004-2014).

Background: The way schizophrenia is portrayed in the media contributes to the dissemination of misinformation about the symptoms, causes, and treatment of mental disorders and has the potential to perpetuate or mitigate the stigmatization of schizophrenia. While research on the news media's role in exacerbating or mitigating the stigmatization of schizophrenia has been conducted widely in other contexts, our search did not yield any study on media framing of schizophrenia in South Africa. Therefore, this study used the framing theory to examine the media framing of schizophrenia following the enactment of two mental health policies in South Africa.

Acceptability and accessibility of HIV testing and treatment among men who have sex with men in Botswana.

: Although HIV testing and treatment are the cornerstones of a comprehensive prevention strategy, their acceptability and accessibility are complex within the healthcare system.: We used Aday and Andersen's conceptual framework of access to healthcare services to explore factors influencing acceptability and accessibility of HIV testing and treatment among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Botswana. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted, using purposive sampling to recruit 20 MSM.

Defining, conceptualising and operationalising community empowerment: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Community empowerment is a core concept in health promotion theory and practice. Several authors have defined and conceptualised the term differently. However, we did not find any synthesis of the various definitions of, and meanings attached to, community empowerment and the various conceptualisations, operationalisations, and the indicators for measuring community empowerment in the health promotion literature.

Stress and coping among unmarried pregnant university students in South Africa.

Background: The improvement of maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes is an important part of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). MCH remains an important issue globally as the SDGs have not yet been achieved in most countries. Young women in universities are likely to experience unintended pregnancy due to risky sexual behaviors in tertiary institutions which is characterized by lack of condom and/or contraceptive use and coercion.

How do HIV/AIDS policies address access to HIV services among men who have sex with men in Botswana?

The study assessed Botswana government policies related to HIV/AIDS and international policy documents that were adopted to address the HIV epidemic. Studies have indicated that HIV surveillance among men who have sex with men (MSM) is poor and that they are disproportionally affected by HIV. A document analysis method was employed to assess the Botswana government and international HIV/AIDS policy documents adopted in the country to determine how they address MSM issues such as access to HIV testing and treatment.

Health care waste management in community-based care: experiences of community health workers in low resource communities in South Africa.

Background: In South Africa, community health workers (CHWs) working in community-based care (CBC) programmes provide care to patients most of whom are living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). Although studies have shown that the caregiving activities provided by the CHWs generate health care waste (HCW), there is limited information about the experiences of CHWs on health care waste management (HCWM) in CBC. This study explored HCWM in CBC in Durban, South Africa from the perspectives CHWs.

Perspectives of policy-makers and stakeholders about health care waste management in community-based care in South Africa: a qualitative study.

Background: In South Africa, a new primary health care (PHC) re-engineering initiative aims to scale up the provision of community-based care (CBC). A central element in this initiative is the use of outreach teams comprising nurses and community health workers to provide care to the largely poor and marginalised communities across the country. The provision of care will inevitably lead to an increase in the amount of health care waste (HCW) generated in homes and suggests the need to pay more attention to the HCW that emanates from homes where there is care of a patient.

Factors influencing motivation and job satisfaction among supervisors of community health workers in marginalized communities in South Africa.

Background: Management and supervision of community health workers are factors that are critical to the success of community health worker programmes. Yet few studies have explored the perspectives of supervisors in these programmes. This study explored factors influencing motivations of supervisors in community health worker programmes.

Print media coverage of primary healthcare and related research evidence in South Africa.

Background: The news media is located at the nexus of the public and policy agendas and provides a window into issues concerning the public. Therefore, it could be a powerful tool for advocating for citizens' health and could help promote evidence-based primary health systems responsive to the needs of citizens. However, research on the coverage of primary healthcare and related research evidence in the South African print media is virtually non-existent.

Infection control in home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS/TB in South Africa: an exploratory study.

The majority of HIV and AIDS patients in sub-Saharan African countries receive health care services at home. Yet research on infection control in home-based care settings is virtually non-existent. This study explored infection control practices in home-based care in a South African province with a high HIV/TB prevalence.

Perceived stress and burnout among volunteer caregivers working in AIDS care in South Africa.

Aims: To conduct a quantitative investigation of stress and the relationship with burnout among AIDS care volunteers.

Background: Volunteer caregivers experience stress that could lead to burnout. Yet, very few studies quantify stress and its relationship with burnout among AIDS care volunteers.

'I did it for him, not for me': an exploratory study of factors influencing sexual debut among female university students in Durban, South Africa.

We used qualitative interviews to explore the influences on first sexual intercourse among 10 young women who had sexual debut within a year of enrolling in the university. University culture of sexual permissiveness and pressure from sexually experienced friends and male partners were the main factors influencing sexual debut. Ambivalence and a range of coercive behaviours characterized first sex.

Psychosocial and behavioural correlates of attitudes towards antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a sample of South African mineworkers.

Despite being one of the worst affected sectors in South Africa, the mining sector has proven to be one of the most active in intervention efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS (Ellis, 2007). Owing to low uptake rates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in mining companies in recent years (Connelly & Rosen, 2006) and the positive relationship between attitudes towards ART and ART uptake (Cooper et al., 2002; Horne, Cooper, Gellaitry, Leake, & Fisher, 2007), this study sought to describe and investigate the psychosocial and behavioural correlates of attitudes towards ART in a sample of South African mineworkers.

Sailing against the tide? Sustaining sexual abstinence among Christian youth in a university setting in South Africa.

This qualitative study sought to understand the perceptions and experiences of abstinence among young Christians in a University in South Africa. Willingness to adhere to Christian teachings of sexual chastity is the primary motivation for sexual abstinence while spiritual, mental and physical health benefits of abstinence as well as enforcement of Christian teachings by members and peers are secondary motivations that help sustain sexual abstinence. Sexual pressures come from desire to satisfy sexual urge, subtle coercion, peer pressure, momentary loss of self-control.

Patterns of disclosure and antiretroviral treatment adherence in a South African mining workplace programme and implications for HIV prevention.

Social and psychological barriers to the disclosure of one's seropositive HIV status to significant others and poor adherence to taking medications pose significant challenges to the scaling-up of access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the workplace. Such barriers are predictive of sub-optimal treatment outcomes and bedevil HIV-prevention interventions at a societal level. Against this background, this article explores the lived experiences of 19 HIV-positive male participants, between the ages of 33 and 57 years, who were enrolled in an ART programme managed at an occupational health clinic at a mining company in South Africa.