Little is available in scholarly literature about how HIV-positive prisoners, especially in low-income countries, access antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication. We interviewed 18 prisoners at a large prison in Namibia to identify barriers to medication adherence. The lead nurse researcher was a long-standing clinic employee at the prison, which afforded her access to the population. We identified six significant barriers to adherence, including (1) the desire for privacy and anonymity in a setting where HIV is strongly stigmatized; (2) the lack of simple supports for adherence, such as availability of clocks; (3) insufficient access to food to support the toll on the body of ingesting taxing ART medications; (4) commodification of ART medication; (5) the brutality and despair in the prison setting, generally leading to discouragement and a lack of motivation to strive for optimum health; and (6) the lack of understanding about HIV, how it is transmitted, and how it is best managed. Because most prisoners eventually transition back to communitysettings when their sentences are served, investments in prison health represent important investments in public health.

Background and objective: Adolescence is generally understood as a period of growing to maturity, transition from childhood to adulthood with physical and mental maturity. Nowadays girls enter puberty as young as 9 years which pose a health risk to adolescent pregnancy and early motherhood. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of adolescent mothers as regards motherhood in Oshana region. Methods: A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual study was conducted among adolescent mothers in Oshana Region of Namibia regards their experiences on adolescent motherhood. Thematic analysis following Tesch's analysis process was employed. Results: The findings of this study revealed that having a baby at a younger age have a negative effect on their future plans. It is an unfortunate fact that emerged from the study that many adolescent mothers lack the required form of support or social assistance both during pregnancy and in raising their children in the economically driven world of today. It is an unfortunate fact that emerged from the study that many adolescent mothers lack the required form of support or social assistance both during pregnancy and in raising their children in the economically driven world of today. It appeared that having a child gives an added impetus to their lives; and they felt that every decision or step they made would impact their babies' lives in one way or another. Conclusions: It appeared that having a child gives an added impetus to their lives; and they felt that every decision or step they made would impact their babies' lives in one way or another. They experienced distorted inter-personal relationships with families and friends related to motherhood as well as challenges on bringing up a baby and baby care. However adolescent mothers also had future ambitions on education, support, relationships and job attainment.

Despite the 1990 reforms to the health system in Namibia, mental health still receives low priority. Coupled with limited resources, health policies are directed at addressing communicable and life-threatening diseases. On the primary health care (PHC) level, health care services are either completely absent or, at best, fragmented. Therefore, an assessment of the implementation of the mental health policy that was launched in 2005 in the Oshana region of Namibia was undertaken in order to assess the extent to which the mental health policy had been implemented. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the extent of implementation and identify the challenges faced by nurses in PHC settings.A quantitative, explorative, descriptive design was used, where a total of 42 nurses from 13 health facilities in the Oshana region were conveniently included in the study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that included both open and closed-ended items. The study found that health care workers on the ground were expected to implement the policy, without have been provided with the crucial tools for implementing it, such as training, implementation guidelines, supervision, infrastructure to support the services and the materials needed to provide the services. In addition, although 77% of the research participants had received training in mental health, none expressed confidence in delivering mental health services on a PHC level. As a result, such services are not available in 94% of the health facilities in the region. This finding supports Gilson et al.'s (2008) bottom-up model of policy implementation, which holds that in order to implement a policy fully and successfully, sufficient resources for implementation at multiple levels are required.The findings call for articulated plans to address the challenges experienced in mental health policy implementation in Namibia in order to allow for the early identification of the burden associated with mental disorders.

In many instances, care for the elderly, especially in long-term care institutions, is provided under minimal supervision by caregivers who are lay people. This can lead to poor quality care or neglect of the elderly. The research question was: "How competent are lay caregivers for the elderly in old age homes, who often lack the opportunity for training to improve their knowledge and skills, in delivering care to the elderly? The aims of the study were to explore and describe the experiences of both the caregivers and the elderly in respect of caring for the elderly in old age homes. The objectives of the study were to explore and describe the experiences of the caregivers and the elderly with respect to caring for the elderly and in respect of nursing care they received. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive, contextual and phenomenology design was used to perform this study. In the situational analysis, the experiences and needs of the caregivers were described. Themes in terms of interpersonal relationships that could be positive or negative regarding the elderly were identified. These included lack of regular in-service training sessions for caregivers. Likewise, sub-themes like communication, support and caring for elderly people were revealed. Inadequate knowledge of caregivers in caring procedures, a shortage of staff, equipment and absence of policies which should support and guide the work of caregivers impacts negatively on the care of the elderly. From the experiences of the elderly and caregivers, the competencies under scrutiny emerged and were measured qualitatively by the perceptions of the elderly, in respect of the caring they were exposed to.

A quantitative, non-experimental and exploratory study was undertaken to determine the contribution by the clinical nurse instructor to develop critical thinking skills of student nurses in