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There are no adequate records on the nutrition of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. This paper aims to rectify this.

Purposive sampling technique was used to select 200 PLWHA respondents at the Federal Medical Center Idiaba, Abeokuta. A pre‐tested questionnaire was used to collect information on the subjects’ socio‐demographic characteristics and health status of respondents. A three day 24‐hour recall was used to assess the food intake of the subjects. Adequacy of nutrient intake was assessed as a percentage of the recommended dietary allowance. Packed cell volume (PCV) estimation was investigated using a sub‐sample of 100 respondents.

The values obtained were compared with WHO/UNICEF/UNU reference values. The mean PCV for the 33 men was 31.9±6.62 while the mean value for the remaining 67 females was 29.4±4.87, which was below the reference values. A positive correlation was obtained between the PCV and energy intake (r=0.528, 33; p<0.01) as well as serum iron (r=0.474; p<0.01).

This study suggests that a healthy diet that is adequate in terms of energy, protein, fat, and other essential nutrients should be promoted in Nigeria as a key component of positive living for people with HIV.

This paper may be the first to evaluate the nutrient intake and health status of HIV/AIDS patients in Abeokuta, Nigeria

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the low status of women as being a major contributor for the observed gender inequality in the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.

The paper uses data from National Aids Control Organization, National Family Health Survey, and the Directorate of Economics and Statistics.

This study highlights the problems facing women in deterring the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. The status and empowerment of women are important variables in combating the disease among both men and women in India. Literacy, education, exposure to the media, labor market participation, awareness of HIV/AIDS, and economic independence are important considerations in improving the status of women in India. Policymakers need to focus on gender inequality in order to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in India.

While absolute figures indicate men are more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS, the rate of decline is higher for men compared to women in India. We explore several plausible explanations for such observed inequality in the spread of HIV/AIDS across gender. In particular, a potentially important factor – the low status of women in society is attributable as an impediment to the spread of the disease. A case study of the relationship between gender empowerment and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the state with the highest concentration, Manipur, provides more insight to the difficulties faced by women in combating HIV/AIDS in India.

Using a health belief model (HBM), this study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Iranian midwives in relation to HIV/AIDS protection behavior and to determine the needs of interventional programs for promotion of the behavior among midwives of maternity care units.

This was a cross‐sectional study in five selected hospitals in Isfahan. All 58 midwifery personnel of maternity wards of these hospitals participated in the study. Tools for data collection were a checklist to assess midwives' practice and a questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitude, and the HBM of midwives about HIV/AIDS‐protection methods.

A total of 58 midwifery personnel with average working experience of 10.92±7.98 years were assessed in the study and with a high knowledge, positive attitude and moderate practice about HIV/AIDS protection methods. The midwives perceived two main barriers, which impacted on their self‐efficacy and their protection behavior. These barriers were the emergency conditions of the work and the low availability of protective equipment.

HIV/AIDS protection behavior and HBM of midwives can be promoted by overcoming management barriers such as inadequate midwifery personnel in emergency conditions and insufficient protective equipment. The behavior also needs to be promoted by educational interventions which focus on improving midwives' perceived risk of HIV/AIDS infection.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the social uses of digitisation within the social context of HIV/AIDS by building digital archives of photographs.

Visual data sets on HIV/AIDS are drawn from photovoice studies in our previous work in Canada and South Africa. To organise and describe visual data sets, protocols for scanning and metadata have been developed.

Based on these protocols, a digital archive is being built to store and provide access to digital images.

The study intends to develop a methodological and technological framework to understand the social uses of photography by using digital technology.

The observations and lessons garnered from this study provide insights into the building of a digital archive of photo collections on HIV/AIDS and can be used in other social contexts where photos are developed and managed in order to address social issues.

Sexual health promotion aimed at men who have sex with men (MSM) is not achieving its objective of reducing the incidence of new infections of sexually transmitted diseases, notably HIV/AIDS, in the MSM population. The paper aims to raise awareness of possible unintended consequences when using visual culture and advertising techniques in the field of sexual (and other) health promotion and public health messages.

Using critical textual analysis and drawing on visual culture methodology the approach is to critique current practice and suggest alternative ways to approach gay men's sexual health which are not predicated on a “model” gay man.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are constructed through sexual health promotion (SHP) literature as young, hedonistic and irrational which may serve to distance the very audience it seeks to attract and address. What may at first appear to be a targeted and helpful initiative to raise awareness may inadvertently have the simultaneous and unanticipated effect of “selling” unsafe sex rather than promoting safe sex. This is because, first, the use of sexual imagery designed to attract attention works in unanticipated ways. Second, MSM are constructed through the images and language used in ways that may be at best unhelpful and potentially quite harmful.

There are many different approaches and interventions in this field and the criticisms here may not be applicable to many of the other sources of health promotion awareness campaigns. Future research could certainly be conducted in other fields of health promotion and public health issues such as obesity, drug and alcohol abuse and smoking cessation.

Health promotion practice should beware of depicting their audience in stereotypical ways. MSM could be constructed far more positively as role models to be followed instead of bad examples to be avoided.

The methodology is new to this field and the findings provide an original basis for criticism of advertising techniques which have until now formed the basis of this type of public awareness‐raising.

This paper explores “lessons learned” resulting from a process evaluation of a peer‐led HIV/AIDS prevention programme targeting street children and youth in urban Uganda. The purpose was to explore aspects of implementation that either enhanced or hindered the effectiveness of the peer educator (PE) role.

The process data derive from three reviews conducted throughout the project lifespan. The reviews engaged participatory evaluation methods such as focus groups (four) and workshops (three), as well as drawing on monitoring data such as activity evaluations.

The street youth in this project made effective peer educators. We suggest that letting the target group choose their peers and focusing on street youth undergoing rehabilitation engendered ownership of PEs by the target group and accountability among PEs themselves. The role was highly coveted and the PEs became powerful role models. The most useful work of the PEs lay in helping their peers to leave the risky environment of the streets, hence reducing their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. By defining the role broadly and situating peer education activities within a broader strategy of capacity building and advocacy, we were able to remain sensitive to the context in which street youth make “choices” about their sexual behaviour.

This paper contributes significantly to our understanding of the effective implementation of the PE method in this setting. It will be particularly helpful to practitioners in the design stage of similar peer‐led programmes.

The paper aims to theoretically and empirically investigate the impact on human capital investment decisions and income growth of lowered life expectancy as a result of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

The theoretical model is a three‐period overlapping generations model where individuals go through three stages in their lives, namely, young, adult, and old. The model extends existing theoretical models by allowing the probability of premature death to differ for individuals at different life stages, and by allowing for stochastic technological advances. The empirical investigation focuses on the effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy and on the role of health in educational investments and growth. Potential endogeneity is addressed by using various strategies, such as controlling for country‐specific time‐invariant unobservables and by using the male‐circumcision rate as an instrumental variable for HIV/AIDS prevalence.

The paper shows theoretically that an increased probability of premature death leads to less investment in human capital, and consequently slower growth. Empirically, the paper finds that HIV/AIDS has resulted in a substantial decline in life expectancy in African countries and these falling life expectancies are indeed associated with lower educational attainment and slower economic growth world wide.

The theoretical and empirical findings reveal a causal link flowing from health to growth, which has been largely overlooked by the existing literature. The main implication is that health investments that decrease the incidence of diseases like HIV/AIDS resulting in increases in life expectancy through their complementarity with human capital investments lead to long run growth.

This paper aims to describe the personal information and help networks of people with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) in rural Canada, and to present a research‐based model of how and why these networks developed. This model seeks to consider the roles of PHAs, their family members/friends and formal health systems in network formation.

In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 114 PHAs, their friends/family members (FFs) and formal caregivers in three rural regions of Canada. A network solicitation procedure elicited PHAs' HIV/AIDS information/help networks. Interviews were analyzed qualitatively, and network data were analyzed statistically. Documents describing health systems in each region were also analyzed. Analyses used social capital theory, supplemented by stress/coping and stigma management theories.

PHAs' HIV/AIDS‐related information/help networks emphasized linking and bonding social capital with minimal bridging social capital. This paper presents a model that explains how and why such networks developed. The model shows that networks grew from the actions of PHAs, their FFs and health systems. PHAs experienced considerable stress, which led them to develop information/help networks to cope with HIV/AIDS – both individually and collaboratively. Because of stigmatization, many PHAs disclosed their illness selectively, thus constraining the size and composition of their networks. Health system actors created network‐building opportunities for PHAs by providing them with care, referrals and support programs.

This study describes and explains an understudied type of information behavior: information/help network development at individual, group and institutional levels. As such, it illuminates the complex dynamics that made individual acts of interpersonal information acquisition and sharing possible.

Students with physical and health impairments represent a small but growing group of individuals with diverse educational needs. They are those students whose physical limitations or health problems interfere with school attendance or learning to such an extent that special services, training, equipment, materials, or facilities are required. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss some of these impairments and acquaint both general and special educators with interventions for helping students with physical and health impairments succeed.