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Research is commonly evaluated through an analysis of research outputs (i.e. theses and dissertations, papers in scholarly journals and conference proceedings, etc.) and research outcomes (i.e. new discoveries, Nobel prize winners, graduating students, new developments of drugs. etc.) using research units (e.g. persons or bodies responsible, sources in which the findings are published, medium of communication, nature of information conveyed, timing and frequency with which information is conveyed, amount of information conveyed, etc). Some of the methods of research evaluation that have been proposed and are commonly used include peer-review and informetric approaches. This paper reports findings of an informetric study of HIV/AIDS literature published by and on Eastern and Southern Africa in order to find out the number of countries engaged in the publication of HIV/AIDS literature: the most productive authors, institutions and countries; and the countries in which the literature is published. A comparison is made between regional (i.e. African) and foreign (or international) productivity. Results indicate that foreign authorship dominates the scene and that majority of the publications are published in foreign countries. The implications of this pattern of publication for researchers based in Africa are discussed. Finally, recommendations based on the findings are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study with rural young people (aged 10-24 years) in Malawi and Lesotho, focusing on their opportunities to learn skills and access capital and assets to engage in income-generating activities (IGAs). Participatory group exercises and individual interviews provide many examples of how young people learn skills and start small businesses, as well as an insight into their strategic thinking about engaging in these livelihood options. Various factors, including the effects of AIDS, are shown to affect young people's prospects of succeeding in their ventures. Young people are very keen on starting IGAs, and are supported by adult members of their communities in asking for interventions to help them. We argue that expanded vocational and business training, focusing on locally appropriate types and scale of businesses, coupled with help to raise start-up capital has the potential to improve the chances of young people who are poor and/or AIDS-affected securing sustainable rural livelihoods in their futures. Since AIDS is intertwined with many other issues affecting young people's livelihoods, it is problematic to single out and target only AIDS-affected young people with interventions on skills building and IGAs. Policymakers' attitudes to vocational skills training and support for IGAs in Malawi and Lesotho are also explored, and policy recommendations made to support vulnerable rural young people in their attempts to build sustainable livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper problems associated with the modeling of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa are presented. A mathematical model is presented to highlight the three major challenges of modeling HIV/AIDS, i.e condom use, vertical transmission and treatment. The model analysis for the case, where the treatment parameter ρ = 0, is presented in terms of the model reproduction number R and threshold parameters RT and RA that show the contribution of vertical transmission. It is shown that if R, RT , RA < 1, then the disease free equilibrium point is both locally asymptotically and globally stable. Numerical simulations for the model are presented to determine the role of some key epidemiological parameters of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a million children are infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); most of whom live in the developing world. Bacterial meningitis is a serious infection of childhood that is 10 times more common in resource-constrained settings than well-resourced countries, and the outcome is worse. This paper reviews the relationship of bacterial meningitis to HIV infection and also the effect of HIV status on antibiotic sensitivity to common causes of childhood meningitis. The combined effects on outcome and long-term sequelae of meningitis are discussed and illustrated with results from Malawi and Southern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]