The Treatment Action Campaign's First Decade: Success Achieved?

South Africa is known to have the largest HIV epidemic in the world with 5.7 million people currently living with HIV, according to UNAIDS. In light of the crisis, South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has led the social movement for increased treatment access for people living with HIV through lobbying the government, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and grassroots campaigning. Since it's founding a decade ago, TAC has been highly acclaimed both regionally and internationally for its success. In order to determine the success of this social movement organization, social movement theories, such as mobilization potential, external political opportunity structure, and framing of the social context of issues will be examined. The assessment of TAC's success will be made based on two outcomes: political outcome and social/cultural outcome. The assessment of TAC's success, using this framework has shown that TAC is a successful social movement organization overall.

A global perspective on intimate partner violence during pregnancy: An analysis of twelve developing countries

Violence against women has been recognized as a significant worldwide human rights issue and public health problem. Women of reproductive age may be particularly at risk, and pregnancy may trigger or escalate violence. Using data available from Demographic and Health Surveys on 271,103 women of reproductive age (15-49) from Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Haiti, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, Peru, South Africa, and Zambia, this study examined the nature of domestic violence during pregnancy in developing countries, including prevalence, demographic and risk factors, maternal and child health outcomes, perpetrators of violence, help-seeking behavior, and social support. In the majority of countries analyzed, violence during pregnancy consistently occurred at approximately one-third the rate at which domestic violence occurred overall. Younger women and women with more children were particularly at risk. Abuse during pregnancy was significantly associated with history of a terminated pregnancy and under-5 child mortality in most countries, and with neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in most Latin American countries. Women who were abused during pregnancy were most often abused by their current or former husband or boyfriend and most never attempted to seek help. In most countries that examined social support, women abused during pregnancy had significantly less contact with family and friends. Implications for practice and research are discussed. ^

"Gangsterism," HIV, and "tik:" An exploration of Cape Town youth

Since early 2000, the Western Cape of South Africa has been documented as an area for monitoring the spread of HIV. The majority of HIV cases occur within individuals between the ages of 15-49 years, and the epidemic is believed to be complicated by the increased use of crystal methamphetamine (CM), or “tik.” Eighty percent of current CM users in Cape Town are under the age of 21 years, and almost 18% of current HIV cases are in individuals under the age of 24 years. Gang membership in youth may also be complicating the HIV problem as gangs feed the social acceptability of “tik” and encourage sexual violence. With almost half the population of Cape Town in their mid-twenties, the threat of a new HIV epidemic complicated by CM use has become a concern in the young adults of the city. Research into the relationships between gang membership and drugs/violence has been extensively studied in the Cape Flats. Yet, few have examined the role of gangs in the perpetuation of HIV. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was exploratory in nature. Key informant interviews from Cape Town youth were used as case illustrations to generate potential hypotheses on the interrelationships between “gangsterism,” “tik” use, and HIV. Such awareness is important if effective efforts to reduce HIV incidence in Cape Town (and Sub-Saharan Africa) are to transpire. If the problem of CM is not addressed quickly, the Cape Flats may find itself with a higher rate of an already uncontrollable HIV epidemic. ^

Chemical composition of iron-manganese and phosphate rocks from aseismic ridges of the Indian Ocean and from the continental slope of the Southeast Africa

Study of chemical composition of 26 samples collected at depths from 400 to 1400 m on vertex surfaces of the Southeast Indian Ridge, Mascarene Ridge, Madagascar Ridge, and Mozambique Ridge, as well as on the upper part of the Southeast Africa continental slope showed that the samples represent three groups of rocks: 1) low phosphate or phosphate-free ferromanganese rocks, 2) phosphate ferromanganese rocks 3) phosphorites and phosphatized limestones.

Inmigración y trabajo irregular en la agricultura: trabajadores tamaulipecos en Estados Unidos y jornaleros magrebíes en Andalucía

Tanto en Estados Unidos como en España, la escasez de mano de obra local dispuesta a aceptar las condiciones sociolaborales imperantes en la agricultura, unida a la dificultad de inspeccionar y regular un sector donde la movilidad de trabajadores es constante, ha conducido a que la agricultura sea la actividad donde encuentran empleo más fácilmente los trabajadores migrantes indocumentados. En Estados Unidos la demanda de empleo en la agricultura ha venido siendo cubierta principalmente por trabajadores mexicanos; mientras, en España, los jornaleros procedentes de Marruecos constituyen el colectivo de inmigrantes con mayor presencia en el sector agrario. Este artículo, fundamentado en una metodología cualitativa, analiza, por una parte, la situación socio-laboral de los inmigrantes procedentes de Marruecos en la agricultura de Andalucía, región situada en el sur de España. Por otra parte, examina la situación de los jornaleros de Tamaulipas, región situada en el noreste de México, empleados de forma estacional en el sector agrario estadounidense

Sedimentology, foraminiferal assemblage, and isotope record of the Agulhas Bank region

The Agulhas Bank region, south of Africa, is an oceanographically important and complex area. The leakage of warm saline Indian Ocean water into the South Atlantic around the southern tip of Africa is a crucial factor in the global thermohaline circulation. Foraminiferal assemblage, stable isotope and sedimentological data from the top 10 m of core MD962080, recovered from the western Agulhas Bank Slope, are used to indicate changes in water mass circulation in the southeastern South Atlantic for the last 450 kyr. Sedimentological and planktonic foraminiferal data give clear signals of cold water intrusions. The benthic stable isotope record provides the stratigraphic framework and indicates that the last four climatic cycles are represented (i.e. down to marine isotope stage (MIS) 12). The planktonic foraminiferal assemblages bear a clear transitional to subantarctic character with Globorotalia inflata and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (dextral) being the dominant taxa. Input of cold, subantarctic waters into the region by means of leakage through the Subtropical Convergence, as part of Agulhas ring shedding, and a general cooling of surface waters is suggested by increased occurrence of the subantarctic assemblage during glacial periods. Variable input of Indian Ocean waters via the Agulhas Current is indicated by the presence of tropical/subtropical planktonic foraminiferal species Globoquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinoides ruber (alba) and Globorotalia menardii with maximum leakage occurring at glacial terminations. The continuous presence of G. menardii throughout the core suggests that the exchange of water from the South Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic Ocean was never entirely obstructed in the last 450 kyr. The benthic carbon isotope record and sediment textural data reflect a change in bottom water masses over the core location from North Atlantic Deep Water to Upper Southern Component Water. Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and sediment composition indicate a profound change in surface water conditions over the core site approximately 200-250 kyr BP, during MIS 7, from mixed subantarctic and transitional water masses to overall warmer surface water conditions.

Inmigración y trabajo irregular en la agricultura: trabajadores tamaulipecos en Estados Unidos y jornaleros magrebíes en Andalucía

Tanto en Estados Unidos como en España, la escasez de mano de obra local dispuesta a aceptar las condiciones sociolaborales imperantes en la agricultura, unida a la dificultad de inspeccionar y regular un sector donde la movilidad de trabajadores es constante, ha conducido a que la agricultura sea la actividad donde encuentran empleo más fácilmente los trabajadores migrantes indocumentados. En Estados Unidos la demanda de empleo en la agricultura ha venido siendo cubierta principalmente por trabajadores mexicanos; mientras, en España, los jornaleros procedentes de Marruecos constituyen el colectivo de inmigrantes con mayor presencia en el sector agrario. Este artículo, fundamentado en una metodología cualitativa, analiza, por una parte, la situación socio-laboral de los inmigrantes procedentes de Marruecos en la agricultura de Andalucía, región situada en el sur de España. Por otra parte, examina la situación de los jornaleros de Tamaulipas, región situada en el noreste de México, empleados de forma estacional en el sector agrario estadounidense

Inmigración y trabajo irregular en la agricultura: trabajadores tamaulipecos en Estados Unidos y jornaleros magrebíes en Andalucía

Tanto en Estados Unidos como en España, la escasez de mano de obra local dispuesta a aceptar las condiciones sociolaborales imperantes en la agricultura, unida a la dificultad de inspeccionar y regular un sector donde la movilidad de trabajadores es constante, ha conducido a que la agricultura sea la actividad donde encuentran empleo más fácilmente los trabajadores migrantes indocumentados. En Estados Unidos la demanda de empleo en la agricultura ha venido siendo cubierta principalmente por trabajadores mexicanos; mientras, en España, los jornaleros procedentes de Marruecos constituyen el colectivo de inmigrantes con mayor presencia en el sector agrario. Este artículo, fundamentado en una metodología cualitativa, analiza, por una parte, la situación socio-laboral de los inmigrantes procedentes de Marruecos en la agricultura de Andalucía, región situada en el sur de España. Por otra parte, examina la situación de los jornaleros de Tamaulipas, región situada en el noreste de México, empleados de forma estacional en el sector agrario estadounidense

Geochemistry of bulk sediment from the Cape Basin

A technique for onsite application of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry to samples from sediment cores aboard a research vessel was developed and tested. The method is sufficiently simple, precise, and fast to be used routinely for high-resolution analyses of depth profiles as well as surface samples. Analyses were performed with the compact high-performance energy-dispersive polarisation X-ray fluorescence (EDPXRF) analyser Spectro Xepos. Contents of the elements Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, K, Sr, Ba, Rb, Cu, Ni, Zn, P, S, Cl and Br were simultaneously determined on 200-225 samples of each core within 24 h of recovery. This study presents a description of the employed shipboard preparation and analysis technique, along with some example data. We show land-based datasets that support our decisions to use powder samples and to reduce the original measuring time for onboard analyses. We demonstrate how well the results from shipboard measurements for the various elements compare with the land-based findings. The onboard geochemical data enabled us to establish an element stratigraphy already during the cruise. Correlation of iron, calcium and silicon enrichment trends with an older reference core provided an age model for the newly retrieved cores. The Spectro Xepos instrument performed without any analytical and technical difficulties which could have been caused by rougher weather conditions or continuous movement and vibration of the research vessel. By now, this XRF technique has been applied during three RV Meteor cruises to approximately 5,000 Late Quaternary sediment samples from altogether 23 gravity cores, 25 multicorer cores and two box cores from the eastern South Atlantic off South Africa/Namibia and the eastern Atlantic off NW Africa.

Phytoplankton composition and biomass during leg 7 of Galathea 3 cruise across the southern Indian Ocean

Phytoplankton composition and biomass was investigated across the southern Indian Ocean. Phytoplankton composition was determined from pigment analysis with subsequent calculations of group contributions to total chlorophyll a (Chl a) using CHEMTAX and, in addition, by examination in the microscope. The different plankton communities detected reflected the different water masses along a transect from Cape Town, South Africa, to Broome, Australia. The first station was influenced by the Agulhas Current with a very deep mixed surface layer. Based on pigment analysis this station was dominated by haptophytes, pelagophytes, cyanobacteria, and prasinophytes. Sub-Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean were encountered at the next station, where new nutrients were intruded to the surface layer and the total Chl a concentration reached high concentrations of 1.7 µg Chl a/L with increased proportions of diatoms and dinoflagellates. The third station was also influenced by Southern Ocean waters, but located in a transition area on the boundary to subtropical water. Prochlorophytes appeared in the samples and Chl a was low, i.e., 0.3 µg/L in the surface with prevalence of haptophytes, pelagophytes, and cyanobacteria. The next two stations were located in the subtropical gyre with little mixing and general oligotrophic conditions where prochlorophytes, haptophytes and pelagophytes dominated. The last two stations were located in tropical waters influenced by down-welling of the Leeuwin Current and particularly prochlorophytes dominated at these two stations, but also pelagophytes, haptophytes and cyanobacteria were abundant. Haptophytes Type 6 (sensu Zapata et al., 2004), most likely Emiliania huxleyi, and pelagophytes were the dominating eucaryotes in the southern Indian Ocean. Prochlorophytes dominated in the subtrophic and oligotrophic eastern Indian Ocean where Chl a was low, i.e., 0.043-0.086 µg total Chl a/L in the surface, and up to 0.4 µg Chl a/L at deep Chl a maximum. From the pigment analyses it was found that the dinoflagellates of unknown trophy enumerated in the microscope at the oligotrophic stations were possibly heterotrophic or mixotrophic. Presence of zeaxanthin containing heterotrophic bacteria may have increased the abundance of cyanobacteria determined by CHEMTAX.

Middle Eocene-Early Pliocene Subantarctic planktic foraminiferal biostratigraphy of ODP Site 1090 on the Agulhas Ridge, South Atlantic

The analysis of planktic foraminiferal assemblages from Site 1090 (ODP Leg 177), located in the central part of the Subantarctic Zone south of South Africa, provided a geochronology of a 330-m-thick sequence spanning the Middle Eocene to Early Pliocene. A sequence of discrete bioevents enables the calibration of the Antarctic Paleogene (AP) Zonation with lower latitude biozonal schemes for the Middle-Late Eocene interval. In spite of the poor recovery of planktic foraminiferal assemblages, a correlation with the lower latitude standard planktic foraminiferal zonations has been attempted for the whole surveyed interval. Identified bioevents have been tentatively calibrated to the geomagnetic polarity time scale following the biochronology of Berggren et al. (1995). Besides planktic foraminiferal bioevents, the disappearance of the benthic foraminifera Nuttallides truempyi has been used to approximate the Middle/Late Eocene boundary. A hiatus of at least 11.7 Myr occurs between V78 and V71 m composite depth extending from the Early Miocene to the latest Miocene-Early Pliocene. Middle Eocene assemblages exhibit a temperate affinity, while the loss of several planktic foraminiferal species by late Middle to early Late Eocene time reflects cooling. During the Late Eocene-Oligocene intense dissolution caused impoverishment of planktic foraminiferal assemblages possibly following the emplacement of cold, corrosive bottom waters. Two warming peaks are, however, observed: the late Middle Eocene is marked by the invasion of the warmer water Acarinina spinuloinflata and Hantkenina alabamensis at 40.5 Ma, while the middle Late Eocene experienced the immigration of some globigerinathekids including Globigerinatheka luterbacheri and Globigerinatheka cf. semiinvoluta at 34.3 Ma. A more continuous record is observed for the Early Miocene and the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene where planktic foraminiferal assemblages show a distinct affinity with southern mid- to high-latitude faunas.