Empowering the South African community’s AIDS intervention workforce : an informetric study of HIV/AIDS research projects, with special reference to masters and doctoral dissertations and theses

Abstract

The prevalence rate of HIV in South Africa has maintained an alarmingly high level and has become a great concern for all stakeholders. The situation has demanded an increase in the number and strengthening of the HIV/AIDS intervention workforce to fight the pandemic. This has resulted in many individuals enrolling to undergo training in institutions of higher learning and the aftermath has been an increased number of graduates conducting research on various aspects of the disease. The purpose of this study is to generally assess the role that is being played by various institutions of higher leaning in South Africa in graduate preparedness as a means of empowering the country’s HIV/AIDS intervention workforce. Using publication count, the study analyses research publications found indexed in SABINET’s Current and Completed Research and the Union Catalog of Theses and Dissertations databases. Results are presented under the headings: empowerment trends; language of empowerment; institutions behind the empowerment; individuals behind the empowerment: “study leaders” and students; information sources for empowerment; purposes for which candidates were prepared (or empowered); and the areas/sectors of empowerment. Conclusions and recommendations as well as suggestions for further research are provided.