​Three researchers and two former postgraduate students from Stellenbosch University (SU) have been honoured by the South African Academy for Science and Arts for their contributions to science and the arts.

The award winners are Prof Matilda Burden of the SU Museum, Prof Jan van Vuuren of the Department of Industrial Engineering, Prof Andre Weideman of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and alumni Theo Busschau and Ruhan Fourie.

Prof Matilda Burden, a cultural historian, receives an Honorary Award for the Advancement of History (Erepenning vir die Bevordering van Geskiedenis) for her outstanding contribution to the advancement of history or cultural history as disciplines in South Africa.

Burden says that even though she was completely taken by surprise, it is a great honour and she is deeply grateful for it.

“It is my privilege to be able to research and write about South African cultural history, and to train South Africans across all cultural boundaries in cultural history, heritage studies and museum science. It is, therefore, a special honour to be rewarded with an award that recognises a modest contribution.

“Receiving this award from the SA Academy for Science and Arts means a great deal to me, especially as it also recognises the field of cultural history," adds Burden.

The Doug Greef Prize goes to Prof Jan van Vuuren for a research or review article of the highest scientific quality published in the SA Journal of Natural Science and Technology during the year preceding the award.

Van Vuuren says the prize was totally unexpected. “Recognition is not a researcher's driving force; rather, it is a fundamental curiosity that leads to a quest to answer open-ended questions. But it is nevertheless encouraging and enjoyable if one gets the kind of recognition that the South African Academy for Science and Arts gives." He also received this award in 2007 with Nicky Pantland.

The Havenga Prize for Physical Sciences was awarded to Prof André (J.A.C.) Weideman, an applied mathematician who specialises in the design and improvement of computer algorithms for application in the natural sciences and engineering. The Havenga Prize is an annual award for original research in the natural sciences and can be awarded only once to an individual.

​Prof Weideman is internationally acknowledged as one of the most creative figures in numerical analysis, specifically for his research on the interface between complex analysis and numerical algorithms in application fields such as differential equations, integral transforms and special functions. Over a career spanning more than thirty years, he has made a valuable contribution to the improvement of software by applying his theoretical knowledge to develop practical algorithms.

In reaction to the award, Prof Weideman said the award is special even more so as applied mathematicians' research contributions often remain invisible to the popular media: “Applied mathematics is a subject in the service of the rest of the sciences. For someone who spent his academic career on improving computer algorithms for effective use by other scientists, this award is extremely special."

The Junior Captain Scott Memorial Medal for the best MSc-thesis in Zoology was awarded to Mr Theo Busschau, for his thesis on the “Phylogeographic patterning of three co-distributed forest-dwelling reptile species along the east coast of South Africa".

Mr Busschau has been working on reptiles since his BScHons-degree, under the supervision of Prof Savel Daniels. Described as an exceptional student, he has already published five research articles in peer-reviewed journals, two of which as first author, with another article in press. In September, he will be off to the United States where he was granted a PhD fellowship in Biology at New York University.

Another SU alumnus, Ruhan Fourie, was honoured with the Protea Boekhuis Prize and the General Christaan de Wet scholarship for the best History dissertation in Afrikaans. His master's thesis was on the anti-apartheid activist Beyers Naudé.

• Photo: Mr Theo Busschau and Profs Matilda Burden, André Weideman and Jan van Vuuren.

​ 

The first full-time Director of the ARUA Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Energy, Dr Neill Goosen, started his term in January 2020. Dr Goosen says: “Stellenbosch University is part of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) launched in 2015. The ARUA network consists of 16 research intensive African Universities from sub-Saharan Africa, and the network is mobilising to increase the quality and quantity of research done on the continent.

“The ARUA CoE in Energy aims to be a multi- and interdisciplinary platform to foster collaboration at Stellenbosch University and with African partners around the theme of renewable energy, but also aims to link other Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers with possible collaborators in the ARUA network,” he added. “At the Centre we aim to investigate how to best integrate renewable energy into African food systems and value chains in order to address the large climate impact of agriculture, and to increase yields and reduce post-harvest losses of agricultural produce. The Centre will do collaborative research with various African partner universities (both ARUA and non-ARUA universities), and also act as a platform to bring together multidisciplinary teams to address some of the most difficult energy-related developmental problems in Africa.”

Participating countries include South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda an Ethiopia.

In order to facilitate research networks, ARUA identified thirteen research areas that are important for the future development of the continent, and awarded Centres of Excellence (CoE) in these fields to partner universities. In the Natural Sciences CoE’s are in Climate Change, Food Security, Non-Communicable Diseases, Materials Development and Nanotechnology, Water Conservation, Energy, and in the Humanities and Social Sciences the CoE’s are in Mobility and Migration, Poverty and Inequality, Unemployment and Skills Development, Notions of Identity, Good Governance, Post-Conflict Societies and Urbanisation and Habitable Cities.​ Continue reading...​

Ever since the ban on tobacco products came into effect, people have been laughing at all the “ZOL" memes and videos doing the rounds. People are frustrated and many have resorted to making use of the black market to gain access to tobacco products – often at over-inflated prices.

Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

In South Africa,

• 37% of men aged 15 or over smoke
• 8% of women aged 15 or over smoke
• Most people smoke between one and nine cigarettes a day
• Smoking has decreased since 1998
• $790m was raised in government revenue from smoking during the 2015/2016 financial year

​Smokers are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19

In March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, because smoking means that fingers (and possibly COVID-19 contaminated cigarettes) are in contact with the lips, it increases the possibility of transmission of the virus from hand to mouth.

The WHO added that smoking products, such as water pipes, often also involve the sharing of mouthpieces and hoses, which could facilitate the spread of COVID-19 in communal and social settings.

Smokers will likely have worse COVID-19 symptoms

In a statement in May, the WHO said a review of studies by public health experts found that smokers are more likely to develop severe disease with COVID-19, compared to non-smokers.

Tobacco smoking is a known risk factor for many respiratory infections and increases the severity of respiratory diseases. COVID-19 is an infectious disease that primarily attacks the lungs. Smoking impairs lung function making it harder for the body to fight off coronaviruses and other diseases.

Tobacco is also a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes, which put people with these conditions at higher risk for developing severe illness when affected by COVID-19. Available research suggests that smokers are at higher risk of developing severe disease and death.

What about the research that suggests that nicotine may protect one against COVID-19?

A study released by a French Hospital in April 2020 indicated that a tobacco substance, possibly nicotine, may be preventing smokers from being infected with the coronavirus.

Its findings were based on the hospital's own observations and on scientific literature. However, the WHO has strongly advised that there is insufficient information to confirm this.

So maybe now is the time to quit smoking!

Useful Tips to Help You Quit Smoking

• Decide on a date to quit smoking and do it – unfortunately, the decision to quit has been made for you, thanks to the cigarette ban — but if you are to succeed, it's a decision you will have to embrace. If you have a few cigarettes left, work out when you'll smoke your last one and prepare yourself for the fight that lies ahead.
• Throw away all reminders of smoking: cigarette packets, ashtrays, lighters.
• Drink lots of water – it will help flush the nicotine from your body.
• Give your mouth and hands something else to do.
• Become more active and exercise i.e. walk, or jog.
• Change your routine. Avoid smokers and things that make you want to smoke for the first couple of days.
• Tell your family and friends that you are trying to quit so that they can offer you support.
• You may experience some dizziness, headaches or coughing once you have stopped smoking. This is normal and should improve after a day or two and disappear within 14 days.
• The first 2 to 3 days are the most difficult, after that it gets easier. Your cravings will reduce and eventually disappear.
• If you are worried about gaining weight, eat at regular times during the day. Snack on fruit between meals. Take time for exercise. Not all ex-smokers gain weight.
• Do not use a crisis or special occasion as an excuse for “just one" cigarette. One cigarette leads to another and another…

You can turn to the following organisations for support:

• Call the NCAS (National Council Against Smoking) quit line on 011 720 3145. They also send daily support via WhatsApp messages
• Sign up for the CANSA (Cancer Association of South Africa) free eKick Butt programme at www.ekickbutt.co.za. This online programme uses as combination of e-mails, surveys and downloads to coach you through the quitting process.
• The Heart and Stroke Foundation can be contacted at 084 250 7374 for support and assistance in quitting smoking during lockdown.
• Campus Health Service can assist with the quitting process. Make an appointment today to sit down and discuss how to proceed.

Campus Health Service: Please call to make an appointment (no walk ins at this time)

• Stellenbosch Campus: 021 808 3494/6
• Tygerberg Campus: 021 938 9590
• Physiotherapy Practice: 021 808 3392

A research project at Stellenbosch University (SU) that commenced in 2018, the centenary year of the Spanish Influenza, has gained much more relevance today with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

 The study, “Analysing the spread and severity of the 1918 Spanish flu", aims to analyse the effect of the flu by transcribing records of the Spanish Flu pandemic in South Africa. These records – consisting of, amongst others, death certificates and news clips of 1918 – provide insights into how the flu spread, how the government tried to prevent the spread of the virus and who died from the pandemic.

Prof Johan Fourie, an associate professor in Economics and History heads the research team. Although the project is still preliminary, Fourie says they are already starting to see some trends between the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The information can help us understand why certain groups of people experienced higher levels of mortality than others. We find, for example, that previously disadvantaged groups had poor access to medical care during the 1918 pandemic. One lesson for today would be that we should dedicate enough resources to those people who already have poor access to medical care, as they would likely be the ones who will suffer the highest incidence of COVID-19," says Fourie.

 “The Spanish flu did not only expose those inequalities but also exacerbated them," says Fourie. Compared to medical access in the three years before the flu, disadvantaged groups had far worse access to medical treatment during the Spanish flu than before or after. “That is why well-targeted medical interventions for the poorest in society is so critical," explains Fourie.

One of the analysed records belongs to the 18-year-old Wills Bunu and his family from Cimezile, a district south of Queenstown. Six members of the Bunu family and Wills Bunu died in October 1918. They were part of thousands of South Africans who died during September and October leading to the naming of “Black October".

Wills and his family fell ill after some soldiers carrying the virus arrived at Queenstown after having fought in the First World War.

The joy of farming with his family ended as “Black October" ripped away five of his family members over five days, followed by Wills' three-year-old sister, Canyiwe, and himself two days later. “This data shows, amongst others, the deceased's age, occupation, ethnicity, marital status, as well as the cause of death and how long the person had been ill," says Fourie.

“Wills Bunu and his family's tragic October may not have been for nothing. The preserved mortality records and the analysis thereof can help us learn from the past and how the Spanish flu claimed thousands of lives," says Fourie.

Other information coming from the analysis shows that the most vulnerable people had a higher mortality rate and that in some towns, such as Simon's Town, the disease spread rapidly before reaching a plateau. Fourie explains that the spreading of the flu virus can be related to the different local governments' responses to the pandemic and what procedures they implemented to “flatten the curve" and prevent the spreading of the virus. The information about the formal intervention processes of 1918 comes from local news reports of that time.

“As we transcribe more of these towns' death records and collect more qualitative information that complements our data, we are going to get closer to the answer as to which government intervention was the most meaningful. This information can be of much use today," says Fourie.

Fourie coordinates the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa's Past (LEAP) and the Biography of an Uncharted People project. This research project forms part of SU's department of History, and the Biography of an Uncharted People project that is funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

LEAP is affiliated to the department of Economics at SU and is devoted to the quantitative study of African economic and social history. The Biography of an Uncharted People has enabled collaboration with the department of History, and the scope of work has extended beyond economic history to include social, demographic, financial and family history.

The student researchers involved in the project are from left to right​:

Ms Kelsey Lemon, an MA student in the department of History at SU. She completed her honours degree in History in 2019, focusing on the petitions of Cape women in the late nineteenth century. Her master's study will examine the changing face of public health systems in South Africa after the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918.

Mr Jonathan Jayes is a master's student in Economics. He studied economics and economic history at UCT before moving to Stellenbosch in 2019. “One thing that struck me about this project is the richness of the data. The data allows observation of trends, by race, sex, town and cause of death. It tells a story about the spread of the Spanish flu," says Jayes.

Dr Elie Murard, who obtained his PhD at the Paris School of Economics, was a research assistant at the Research Institute IZA in Germany for four years. “When I heard about LEAP, I became excited by the idea of joining the promising Biography of an Uncharted People project and the possibility to tap into previously unexplored sources of demographic data," Murard says. 

Dr Young-ook Jang, a postdoctoral research fellow in the LEAP and the Biography of an Uncharted People project, who has completed a PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science with his thesis on migration and ethnic diversity in the Soviet space.​

Dr Kate Ekama, a postdoctoral researcher and trained historian, says the Spanish flu project is in line with her research. Her goal is to visualise individuals excluded from history, or who have not received much scholarly attention and link them to the larger narratives of social, institutional and economic change both locally and globally. Ekama's role in the project is, amongst others, to contribute research-based underutilised sources such as contemporary newspapers and Government Gazettes.

Prof Johan Fourie, an associate professor in Economics and History.

Dr Kara Dimitruk is a postdoctoral fellow in SU's department of Economics and received her PhD in Economics from the University of California in 2018. For the Spanish flu study, she helps to document the local government public health interventions using information from historical newspapers.

Dear Colleagues​, Students and Alumni

We continue to adjust to the new realities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and its multi-faceted challenges. I would like express my appreciation to everyone who has continued to diligently fulfil their responsibilities and to those who are embracing new ways of learning and working. Thank you also for supporting each other during these difficult times.

The COVID-19 outbreak in the Western Cape is now growing rapidly, with extensive community spread and an increase in hospital admissions and deaths. An effective response to the pandemic depends on the involvement of volunteers to assist health workers and communities. We are extremely grateful to the student and staff volunteers who have been providing much needed assistance so far. The University and other stakeholders are now being called upon to scale up and intensify the support provided, on a number of fronts.

Volunteers have been assisting with the critically important activities of community case management and contact tracing. This involves telephonically tracking cases, their contacts, liaising with community teams, arranging admission into isolation facilities or hospitals and identifying clusters of infection. Teams, organised into small ‘pods’, have been working tirelessly over the past few weeks. They are now in much need of additional capacity to continue this crucial support to our health services and communities.

I am therefore extending this urgent appeal to staff, students and university alumni to please consider offering their services on a voluntary basis to supplement the efforts of teams tracking cases and contacts, and to assist with data capturing, where required. Some medical or health sciences training would be an advantage, but this is not essential, as relevant training will be provided to all volunteers. Experience in conducting interviews would be beneficial.

Should you be able and willing to assist as a volunteer kindly send an email message to sucovidvolunteers@sun.ac.za to receive further information. Thank you in advance for your support. It will make a huge difference.

Kind regards

Prof Jimmy Volmink
Dean: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University

In yet another example of students pulling together in a time of need, fifth-year medical student Sibongumezi Mtshali has started a campaign to help students from underprivileged backgrounds buy data to access their online studies during the lockdown.

So far, the Connecta Skeem Campaign has raised more than R3000 and helped 17 students from a range of institutions around South Africa to buy data for the month of April. 

Mtshali, who originally comes from Newcastle in KZN, first thought of starting the campaign after a conversation with friends at other campuses in South Africa. 

“They told me about their classmates who lived in very rural areas who were struggling to access their studies online because their parents are unemployed." 

She put word out through the social media and asked classmates and friends to help her share the campaign. 

“The project entails providing students in need with data and it is purely funded through donations. The minimum amount that can be donated is R10 which goes towards purchasing data for the month for a student." 

She found there was an overwhelmingly big need. “The first student we helped was the son of a domestic worker who is without employment during the lockdown.

“I've received over a hundred requests for assistance from students all over the country. Every day, I go through almost 20 new messages from students in need," Mtshali said.

She said the students are all screened before they can receive assistance. “They have to provide information, including proof of registration at a tertiary institution, proof of location, background info and motivation of their need for data.

“Once money has been collected, I discuss with the students the data promotions they have on their specific networks and transfer enough airtime to their cell numbers to be able to buy data for the month. 

“Alternatively, donors can request the student's number and directly transfer the funds to them. This has been a method preferred by many of our donors."

So far, the campaign has helped students from the University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela University, University of Pretoria, Durban University of Technology, University of the Western Cape and the University of Zululand.

Mtshali said she has been overwhelmed by the positive responses she has received to the campaign. “It really feels good to be able to impact someone's life so deeply. I'm passionate about helping people. I started this campaign to ensure no student is left behind because of reasons beyond their control. The reality of our country is that majority of people live below the poverty line and those same families are relying on their children in university as a key to a better life. Many universities have not been able to provide data to their students. This is only a form of emergency funding until this need is addressed."

The former head girl has plans to practise in rural medicine for a few years once she has qualified and then specialize in a surgical field.  She also plans to start a mentorship program for girls of school-going age and a foundation that supports families struggling with mental health problems.

A research project at Stellenbosch University (SU) that commenced in 2018, the centenary year of the Spanish Influenza, has gained much more relevance today with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

 The study, “Analysing the spread and severity of the 1918 Spanish flu", aims to analyse the effect of the flu by transcribing records of the Spanish Flu pandemic in South Africa. These records – consisting of, amongst others, death certificates and news clips of 1918 – provide insights into how the flu spread, how the government tried to prevent the spread of the virus and who died from the pandemic.

Prof Johan Fourie, an associate professor in Economics and History heads the research team. Although the project is still preliminary, Fourie says they are already starting to see some trends between the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The information can help us understand why certain groups of people experienced higher levels of mortality than others. We find, for example, that previously disadvantaged groups had poor access to medical care during the 1918 pandemic. One lesson for today would be that we should dedicate enough resources to those people who already have poor access to medical care, as they would likely be the ones who will suffer the highest incidence of COVID-19," says Fourie.

 “The Spanish flu did not only expose those inequalities but also exacerbated them," says Fourie. Compared to medical access in the three years before the flu, disadvantaged groups had far worse access to medical treatment during the Spanish flu than before or after. “That is why well-targeted medical interventions for the poorest in society is so critical," explains Fourie.

One of the analysed records belongs to the 18-year-old Wills Bunu and his family from Cimezile, a district south of Queenstown. Six members of the Bunu family and Wills Bunu died in October 1918. They were part of thousands of South Africans who died during September and October leading to the naming of “Black October".

Wills and his family fell ill after some soldiers carrying the virus arrived at Queenstown after having fought in the First World War.

The joy of farming with his family ended as “Black October" ripped away five of his family members over five days, followed by Wills' three-year-old sister, Canyiwe, and himself two days later. “This data shows, amongst others, the deceased's age, occupation, ethnicity, marital status, as well as the cause of death and how long the person had been ill," says Fourie.

“Wills Bunu and his family's tragic October may not have been for nothing. The preserved mortality records and the analysis thereof can help us learn from the past and how the Spanish flu claimed thousands of lives," says Fourie.

Other information coming from the analysis shows that the most vulnerable people had a higher mortality rate and that in some towns, such as Simon's Town, the disease spread rapidly before reaching a plateau. Fourie explains that the spreading of the flu virus can be related to the different local governments' responses to the pandemic and what procedures they implemented to “flatten the curve" and prevent the spreading of the virus. The information about the formal intervention processes of 1918 comes from local news reports of that time.

“As we transcribe more of these towns' death records and collect more qualitative information that complements our data, we are going to get closer to the answer as to which government intervention was the most meaningful. This information can be of much use today," says Fourie.

Fourie coordinates the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa's Past (LEAP) and the Biography of an Uncharted People project. This research project forms part of SU's department of History, and the Biography of an Uncharted People project that is funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

LEAP is affiliated to the department of Economics at SU and is devoted to the quantitative study of African economic and social history. The Biography of an Uncharted People has enabled collaboration with the department of History, and the scope of work has extended beyond economic history to include social, demographic, financial and family history.

The student researchers involved in the project are from left to right :

​

Ms Kelsey Lemon, an MA student in the department of History at SU. She completed her honours degree in History in 2019, focusing on the petitions of Cape women in the late nineteenth century. Her master's study will examine the changing face of public health systems in South Africa after the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918.

Mr Jonathan Jayes is a master's student in Economics. He studied economics and economic history at UCT before moving to Stellenbosch in 2019. “One thing that struck me about this project is the richness of the data. The data allows observation of trends, by race, sex, town and cause of death. It tells a story about the spread of the Spanish flu," says Jayes.

Dr Elie Murard, who obtained his PhD at the Paris School of Economics, was a research assistant at the Research Institute IZA in Germany for four years. “When I heard about LEAP, I became excited by the idea of joining the promising Biography of an Uncharted People project and the possibility to tap into previously unexplored sources of demographic data," Murard says. 

Dr Young-ook Jang, a postdoctoral research fellow in the LEAP and the Biography of an Uncharted People project, who has completed a PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science with his thesis on migration and ethnic diversity in the Soviet space.

Dr Kate Ekama, a postdoctoral researcher and trained historian, says the Spanish flu project is in line with her research. Her goal is to visualise individuals excluded from history, or who have not received much scholarly attention and link them to the larger narratives of social, institutional and economic change both locally and globally. Ekama's role in the project is, amongst others, to contribute research-based underutilised sources such as contemporary newspapers and Government Gazettes.

Prof Johan Fourie, an associate professor in Economics and History.

Dr Kara Dimitruk is a postdoctoral fellow in SU's department of Economics and received her PhD in Economics from the University of California in 2018. For the Spanish flu study, she helps to document the local government public health interventions using information from historical newspapers.​

This article was originally published on Daily Maverick. Read the original article here.

The response to the Covid-19 pandemic by the South African government has been excellent thus far – role modelling strong, rational, evidence-informed, empathic and coherent leadership. This can be boosted with active engagement and involvement of behavioural scientists in the implementation of the response.

South Africa is currently in week seven of one of the strictest lockdowns globally. The response by the South African government in March 2020 to the Covid-19 pandemic was guided by science and extensive consultation, and it was communicated clearly, empathically and was well supported by most South Africans. The public face of this was infectious disease, public health and clinical medicine specialists. 

Compared to the response of the Donald Trump administration where the lessons of science were routinely downplayed and scientists scapegoated, the South African response was impeccable. Communication from the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize and Professor Salim Abdool Karim, and other experts was clear, factual, provided up-to-date information about the virus, and outlined what could be done to stop or minimise transmission.  

This role of these experts is key, and of course, must continue. However, we are now in a  different situation than when we went into lockdown in March. After six weeks of lockdown, community transmission is increasing, with projections of anything up to 3,000 new infections per day by the end of August 2020. 

While the lockdown has allowed the health system to better prepare itself, and to increase public education on how to limit transmission and prevent infections, are we changing our behaviour to ensure adherence to these prevention measures? Are environments designed to make it easier for people to follow prevention strategies?  

In 1919, following the Spanish flu epidemic, with the global deaths of 50 million people, a paper in the journal Science (Soper, G. A. The lessons of the pandemic. Science 49, 501–506, 1919) concluded that: people do not always appreciate the risks they run; rigid isolation as a way of protecting people went against human nature; and that unknowingly, people acted in ways that endangered themselves and others.

Since then, what have we learned about changing behaviour? It turns out that behavioural scientists and experts know a great deal about this, and it is imperative that they move to be at the forefront of the government response.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that changing behaviour is extremely complex and difficult – even when personal risk is involved. For example, in the US (and a similar figure pertains elsewhere), over 70% of all illness and deaths can be linked in some way to five behaviours – smoking, alcohol, what food is eaten, how much food is eaten, and exercise (de Vol, R. & Bedrosian, A. 2007. An unhealthy America: The economic burden of chronic disease. Los Angeles, CA: The Milken Institute). 

These are all behaviours that are to some extent modifiable and amenable to change (some more than others, of course). Yet countless people know how difficult it is to stop smoking, reduce their intake of alcohol, stick to a diet for more than a few weeks, eat healthy foods or to exercise frequently.  

A crucial lesson has been that successful behaviour change requires more than just information. While information is key to improving knowledge, changing behaviour requires something more. One example of how information/knowledge moves to actual behaviour change is role modelling. President Cyril Ramaphosa, wearing a mask, clumsily getting it wrong in an empathic, humorous and human way, while physically distancing publicly are all key components of successful behaviour change.

Another illustration is the common method of receiving health information via social media or by text message. We know that people like receiving messages this way and the broad reach of the technology is key. However, the evidence also suggests that the use of passive social media messages (i.e only providing information) should be discouraged. When we use available technologies to ensure that messages received are rich in information, sent at times where uptake is most likely, and where some active engagement between those sending and receiving messages is possible, the likelihood of success increases. 

Perhaps the most important lesson from other epidemics (such as Ebola) was how important involving the public in the decision-making process is. This is, of course, related to trust, but if people, local leaders, faith and civic society leaders are involved in the decision-making process, adherence will improve. 

We know that one way to improve adherence is through door-to-door outreach. Currently, most of the outreach that is happening is about testing. However, increasing numbers of people are refusing testing (as high as 30% in Soweto), because they fear being forced to self-isolate.  

South Africa has tens of thousands of community health workers, a ubiquitous and well-respected workforce. We argue that they would be better deployed going door to door to hand out masks, educate households about hand washing, problem-solve ways to protect elderly family members, and to build the necessary trust so that people will seek out testing voluntarily.  

We also know that when there is trust in government there is a greater likelihood of people adopting recommendations. Linked to this is the importance of open communication and acknowledging uncertainty. It is now widely acknowledged that Singapore's experience and success during the SARS epidemic was due in large part to transparency in communication. 

The Singapore government was able to build confidence and trust with a transparent approach to communications that fully acknowledged uncertainty, thus allowing policy shifts and changes as the epidemic evolved. 

Behavioural science also shows us how quickly trust can dissipate. Of particular resonance for South Africa right now is the issue of coercion and instances of military and police overreach. The more people are threatened and coerced as a way of trying to get them to comply, the more likely they are to feel that their trust in the government and the government's trust in them has been breached. Paradoxically, what then happens is that people drastically reduce their willingness to follow directives. 

Another lesson we have learned about behaviour change has come from the field of behavioural economics. Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler and his colleague Cass Sunstein popularised the concept of “nudge" in their book Nudge: Improving decision about health, wealth and happiness. 

Nudging is a way of redesigning environments (also known as modifying choice architecture), which assists in the process of aligning people's immediate choices with what they have rationally decided to do, but may be finding difficult to always remember and act on. 

Importantly, nudges are subtle, do not involve outright persuasion and certainly do not involve bans or legislative regulation. Paradoxically, people should be easily able to avoid a nudge. Putting fruit at eye level, for example, to increase fruit consumption counts as a nudge. Taxing sugar to reduce consumption is not a nudge. 

Examples of nudges in the current pandemic would be to place large pictures of the coronavirus throughout public toilets to encourage hand washing, placing alcohol-based hand sanitisers where they are visible as well as markers on the floor to assist with physical distancing. In essence, nudging is about creating enabling environments to help change behaviour.  

In a pandemic, fear and anxiety are, of course, predominant emotions for many. Fear and anxiety are not emotions that allow people to (necessarily) rationally and logically plan their responses and behaviours in ways that we as public health practitioners would like. 

The Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman has developed a two-system theory for how people process information. In the first system (Thinking Fast), processing is automatic, fast and highly susceptible to influences from the environment. In system 2 (Thinking Slow), processing is more reflective, much slower and takes into account goals and intentions (Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). 

If we believe that what happens in planning a response to a pandemic or anything, is that people hear information, then rationally and logically plan their behavioural response, we are missing perhaps the largest piece in the puzzle. In fact, a big part may be instinctive, automatic and unconscious. This was clearly seen in some initial responses to the pandemic when people began hoarding face masks. 

Our safety in this pandemic is as dependent (if not more) on everybody else wearing masks as it is on us having enough masks for ourselves and our families. But the environmental cues that people were receiving were about danger, panic and there not being enough masks resulting in a rush to buy face masks. Behavioural science has shown us when people are fearful and anxious, they will act to achieve a measure of control and safety, and may do this quite rationally and logically. But if they continue to feel scared and helpless, they may well respond with defensiveness or anger. 

Finally, the “Behaviour Change Wheel" is a way of understanding how behaviour can be changed. It consists of three elements. Firstly, individuals must be able to undertake the behaviour (if you have no access to soap, water and/or sanitiser), you will not be able to wash your hands. Secondly, the environment has to facilitate the required behaviour (self-isolating in a one-roomed shack shared by six people is completely impossible). Finally, people must be confident that they can make the required changes (have a sense of agency and self-efficacy in the world). 

The extreme poverty and inequality that characterises South Africa massively impacts on whether people are able to, in fact, act on recommendations. 

The Covid-19 response to the pandemic by the South African government has been excellent thus far – role modelling strong, rational, evidence-informed, empathic and coherent leadership. This can be boosted with active engagement and involvement of behavioural scientists in the implementation of the response. A leadership that says we responded, we have learned and we are adapting our response to a transdisciplinary approach to ensure we do everything we can to respond to the pandemic. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Professor Mark Tomlinson is a clinical psychologist by training and is currently the Co-Director of the Institute for Life Course Health Research at Stellenbosch University.

Professor Taryn Young is a public health specialist with a passion for enhancing the uptake and use of research evidence in healthcare policy and practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic has damaged the mental well-being of many people. This damage may be hard to reverse without prompt action, argues Prof Soraya Seedat from the Department of Psychiatry in an opinion piece for News24.

• Read the complete article below or click here for the piece as published.

Soraya Seedat*

The COVID-19 pandemic has sickened millions around the world and also damaged the mental well-being of many. This damage may be hard to reverse without prompt action. Coupled with the social isolation linked to the prolonged lockdown, the pandemic is expected to lead to new episodes of mental illness for many South Africans and exacerbate pre-existing mental illness. Thirty months after the SARS outbreak in 2003 (the first massive infectious disease outbreak of the 21st century), a third of survivors  met criteria for any psychiatric disorder, a quarter met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and approximately 16% had depressive disorders. These statistics underscore the importance of detecting and treating psychiatric illness in people with COVID-19, and in their contacts.

We cannot ignore the profound negative effects of stress, fear, profound loss and grief. If evidence from other countries is anything to go by, the physical and mental health, and social and economic impacts of the disease, will be inordinately borne by poor South Africans (more than 50% of South Africans live below the poverty line). Billions of people around the world have either been or currently are in full or partial lockdown.  This may be a mammoth 'experiment' but the consequent physical distancing has undoubtedly slowed the transmission chain. That said, the pandemic and the lockdown, independently and in combination, have unintended consequences by severing family ties and inhibiting  social norms, values and rituals, and will arguably exert a severe toll on the mental health of people  – not only in the immediate and short-term but for many years to come.

Quarantines can lead to PTSD symptoms, depression, and alcohol abuse and dependence, with some evidence that quarantines of longer duration are associated with poorer mental health, specifically PTSD, over time. During previous infectious disease epidemics, common stressors endorsed during quarantine were a long period of quarantine, fears of being infected, frustration, boredom, shortage of supplies, inadequate information from public health authorities, financial loss, and stigma. These are all stressors that are being endorsed during the current pandemic.

Research on the mental health consequences of economic crises has taught us about the significant relationship between severe economic recession and population-level psychological distress, including the emergence, and worsening, of mood, anxiety and substance-related disorders and suicide. Social isolation, economic worries, heightened anxiety and guilt (about exposing others to the virus or not doing enough to help others) are all risk factors for suicidal behaviours (this includes suicidal thoughts, attempts, and completed suicide).

In a recent article, Danny Horesh and Adam Brown contend that like other mass traumatic events, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to result in PTSD, with typical features of hypervigilance (centred on protective measures to avoid infection), intrusive thoughts (related to infection, health, fears of dying), avoidance, and negative mood and cognitions (around fears of the world changing and the future being bleak) that will be subjectively distressing and persistently impact on day-to-day functioning over time. 

In the face of the restrictions and accompanying economic hardship, South Africa's youth and  persons with pre-existing mental illness may be especially hard hit by the potentially severe and long-term mental health consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The stress, fear and emotional pain induced by the rapid and aggressive spread of infection, as well as the scale of prolonged grief from the sudden and massive loss of life, will be felt for a long time, and by successive generations.  Like other pandemics, this one is also characterised  by unpredictability, widespread community impact, mass fatalities, and persistence as American scholars Ginny Sprang and Miriam Silman have pointed out.

The COVID-19 pandemic also poses unique challenges for the management of hospital inpatients and outpatients with psychiatric illnesses. Prior to the pandemic, psychiatric services in our public sector, especially at district and community levels, were already overstretched and under-resourced in terms of bed capacity and shortages of mental health personnel. The deployment of these staff within hospitals to assist with the screening and management of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in general medical settings, and the closure of psychiatric wards because of COVID-19 infection, further add to the challenge of providing adequate psychiatric care. Psychiatric units in public hospitals are typically characterised by bed shortages, overcrowding and sharing of dining, bathroom and daily activity spaces (e.g. for group activities such as occupational therapy and group psychotherapy).

Given their compromised and disordered mental states, disorganized behaviour, impulsivity, suboptimal self-care and impaired insight, patients with mental illness may not be in a position to adhere to infection prevention and control measures and protect themselves in the face of COVID-19. Those who cannot access outpatient care may be left to self-manage their mental and physical health, as Benjamin Druss from Emory University argued recently. Existing social isolation, loneliness, homelessness, poorer physical health in patients with serious mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar illness), overweight/obesity, lack of exercise and other unhealthy lifestyle factors associated with psychiatric illness, and the side effects of psychotropic medication, are added risks. As a result of the high rates of co-occurring physical illness (e.g. diabetes, cardiovascular disease) – at least two-fold higher than the general population – patients with mental illness have a heightened vulnerability to developing COVID-19 pneumonia and other complications.

Our mental health system needs urgent strengthening through multi-sectoral interventions targeting mental health, well-being and resilience, for both the general population and for vulnerable groups. This includes, but is not limited to, health care workers, women, youth, the elderly, and the mentally ill. These interventions should be embedded in the general medical COVID-19 pandemic care that is already being provided.

More than ever, given the scale of the pandemic, we need sound research to learn more about the psychiatric and neurological manifestations and their impact in our general population and in vulnerable groups. There are already several research studies currently under way at my institution Stellenbosch University and a number of these are collaborative multi-country initiatives (e.g., www.coh-fit.com). As this is a novel, ravaging virus, it may be prudent to over-estimate the mental health sequelae and the resources that will be required. We can harness the interconnectedness and the tremendous co-ordinated response from the health sector that COVID-19 has necessitated to achieve this.

*Prof Soraya Seedat is the Executive Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University.

The recipient of the CGW Schumann medal for the best postgraduate student in 2019 at SU's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Mr Willem Wilken, is already fronting up to a new challenge as he furthers his studies in the foreign climes of Oxford University.

The medal, named after Prof CGW Schumann, a pioneer lecturer in the Faculty from 1924 and also dean for a quarter of a century, has been awarded annually since 1986. The award is the highest student accolade in the Faculty. 

Wilken, who received his BSc (Mathematical Sciences and Mathematical Statistics), BComHons (Economics and Mathematical Statistics) and MCom (Economics) degrees cum laude, was recently announced the winner of the prestigious medal. An official handover ceremony is scheduled for later this year.

Other remarkable facts regarding Wilken's academic record include the following:

• He received distinctions in 53 out of a total of 55 modules;
• During his undergraduate studies, he received 56 additional credits (1st and 2nd year Philosophy);
• The honours programme he followed is an enriched programme, requiring 164 credits in comparison to the usual 120 credits. On average, only one student per year enrols for this very challenging programme; and
• He achieved his level of academic excellence in three faculties: Science (undergraduate), Economic and Management Sciences (postgraduate), as well as Arts and Social Sciences (undergraduate Philosophy).

Over the years, Wilken accrued numerous awards and accolades. This include the Cloete medal for the best undergraduate student (over all three academic years) in Economics in 2016, best honours student in Economics in 2017 (competing against students who offered only 120 credits) and the Cloete medal for the best postgraduate student in Economics in 2019.

According to Prof Andrie Schoombee, chair of the Department of Economics, Wilken also received recognition for his academic achievements outside the economics department.

“He was awarded a Mandela Rhodes Scholarship in 2017, elected an Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Fellow, and is currently studying towards an MPhil (Economics) at the University of Oxford with a Rhodes Scholarship," said Schoombee.

Dean of the Faculty Prof Ingrid Woolard described Wilken as a worthy winner: “Not only is he an extraordinary academic, but he has also managed to continue to participate in extracurricular and social impact initiatives. He is a great inspiration to us and to his fellow students."

Wilken said he is humbled and grateful for the recognition. “I'm especially thrilled that I'm following in the footsteps of my 2013 matric classmates from Paul Roos Gymnasium who also received the Schumann medal − Gerben Draaijer in 2018 and Niel Botha in 2019. I suppose that's a hat-trick for Paul Roos!" exclaimed Wilken.

He said the support and encouragement he received from the economics department played a vital role in him achieving the heights he has.

“I was fortunate to encounter some incredible academics. The lecturers there were always willing to spend lots of time with you in discussing your essays or research ideas. I'm especially thankful to Prof Rulof Burger for being so generous with his time in supervising my master's degree and Prof Servaas van der Berg, who inspired a generation of economists."

Wilken prides himself on being a well-balanced individual and enjoys running and debating. He has taken part in some 14 debating tournaments in South Africa, Botswana and the Netherlands.

He has also put his debating skills to use in the broader community and has coached debating at Rhenish High School in Stellenbosch and Makapula Secondary School in Kayamandi.

“I started coaching because I wanted to provide learners with the kind of opportunities that I received in school. Stellenbosch University students ran the local schools debating league, as they still do today, and I learnt a lot from them," said Wilken.

The Durbanville resident's family also has strong ties with Stellenbosch. His mother, Mariatha, and father, Hendrik, both completed their studies at the university, while his sister Elizabeth is currently studying her Actuarial Science honours degree there. His other sister Cate is a social work student at Huguenot College in Wellington.

Currently halfway through his two-year MPhil degree, the 24-year-old hopes to pursue an academic career in the future.

 “I enjoy lecturing and doing research. I can't imagine anything better than doing what you love and getting paid for it!"

• Photos supplied: Mr Willem Wilken, recipient of the CGW Schumann medal for the best postgraduate student in 2019 at SU's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. The other photo was taken at his matriculation (i.e. the formal process of entering the university) in October 2019 in the main quad of Oxford University College.
  
  

​​​Dr Rizwana Roomaney, a lecturer in the Psychology Department at Stellenbosch University, has been selected as one of 51 black academics from across South Africa to participate in the Black Academics Advancement Programme in 2020. She is one of three academics at SU to be selected for the programme. 

The Black Academics Advancement Programme (BAAP), which is being funded to the tune of R165 million over the next five years, is a strategic partnership between the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the FirstRand Foundation (FRF) “to promote the development of Black South African academics and South African academics with disabilities, to become nationally and internationally recognised researchers". 

The programme gives black academics, who are completing a PhD degree or working on post-doctoral research, the opportunity to take a sabbatical for two to three years and to fund the sabbatical through a grant. The grant covers the academic's running expenses, such as local and international conference expenses, research-related costs and lecturer replacement costs for the duration of the sabbatical. 

“This grant has allowed me to significantly increase the time that I am able to focus on my postdoctoral research by buying out my teaching obligations over the next two years," explains Roomaney, who is also a registered counsellor and research psychologist. “I teach almost 2 000 undergraduate students a year and currently supervise 15 postgraduate students. So I look forward to having time off from lecturing to focus exclusively on research and mentoring my postgraduate students."

Through her research, Roomaney seeks to understand psychosocial well-being among men and women who seek fertility treatment. She leads a team of researchers in South Africa and Ghana. With 10 million couples in sub-Saharan Africa experiencing infertility, Roomaney's research will make an important contribution to scholarship in this regard. 

“The magnitude of importance attached to biological parenthood in Africa makes cultural beliefs about infertility inseparable from the experience of infertility. Globally, many couples with infertility experience anxiety, depression, stress, and stigma. In Africa, the experience of infertility seems to be aggravated by the cultural worldview of the couple, making the psychosocial well-being of the couple more difficult to disentangle," she adds.

“There is limited current research on the psycho-social aspects of infertility among men and women in South Africa," explains Roomaney. 

She adds that this research may be used to provide psychological and social support to men and women seeking fertility preservation. The original intervention was developed by her co-investigator, Dr Florence Naab at the University of Ghana.

Over the years, Roomaney's research interests have focused on the field of health research, specifically reproductive and women's health. She is an experienced methodologist, and is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a Research Psychologist. It was during her postgraduate studies that she found herself drawn to research on reproductive and women's health and she is currently working on studies with research collaborators and students in oncology, oncofertility (the preservation of reproductive health in cancer patients after treatment), endometriosis, premenstrual dysphoric disorder and infertility. 

“I became interested in women's health and reproductive health mainly because women often find themselves isolated as they silently struggle with their health issues. For example, women who live with endometriosis struggle to talk about matters such as menstruation because we have been socialised not to talk about it and other matters that affect our reproductive health. It is encouraging to see though that women are becoming more empowered and taking charge of their bodies and their health by seeking help online and engaging with other women experiencing the same issues." 

Understanding these matters, says Roomaney, is not only about helping women who suffer silently. Studies has shown that there is a real impact on the economy when women have to remain absent from work due to debilitating symptoms that accompany endometriosis or premenstrual dysphoric disorder. 

Roomaney has been building a solid academic career in the field of reproductive and women's health and has published 19 journal articles and two book chapters during her relatively short career in academia.

At present, she is the national delegate for South Africa on the European Health Psychology Society and is working with the Psychological Society of South Africa to develop a Health Psychology Special Interest Group (SIG).

“I hope that the SIG creates a space for all psychologists working and conducting research in health psychology to share ideas, collaborate and be of service to communities."

​“I would like to make a contribution to the field of health psychology and am grateful for the support that I received through this grant. There is a need to advance black academics, and the NRF and FRF are providing much needed support. It is now up to the universities to further support young black talent and strive to further transform the academic body."  

Roomaney calls attention to the fact that the professorate is not sufficiently transformed. She states that this lack of transformation is a structural problem because mainly privileged people can afford the years of study to get a PhD and work towards to becoming professors. This goal can take decades to achieve, while lecturers struggle to manage their competing academic roles. The BAAP therefore fast-tracks people to become professors who have been disadvantaged because of structural inequalities in society.​

​​This series brings together scientists, practitioners and societal actors who use the frameworks of complexity and resilience thinking in their daily work to make sense of the complex dynamics of change and transformative processes.​

Click here to access the Lockdown Webinars​

A love for the people she works with and a desire to see them making healthy choices to prevent and control chronic diseases, is what motivated Dr Darcelle Schouw to focus her PhD studies on running a workplace health promotion programme at a commercial power plant in the Western Cape.

The results have been highly rewarding and she recently graduated from Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Schouw, who has worked as a biokineticist in the plant's medical centre for the past 20 years, introduced the programme Healthy Choices at Work (HCW) four years ago. According to her the programme has been life-changing for the participants.

By encouraging healthy eating, exercise and conscious lifestyle decisions, the programme has considerably lowered health risk factors among workers. And, as an ongoing project, it will improve health even more in the future.

According to the abstract of Schouw's PhD titled “How to transform the workplace environment to prevent and control risk factors associated with non-communicable chronic diseases", these diseases are major causes of premature deaths in South Africa.

Schouw's study designed, developed, implemented and evaluated the HCW programme.

“The programme focused on healthy food supply, opportunities for physical activity, individual health risk assessment and behaviour change counselling, as well as engagement of the leadership. The study used novel methods and the lessons learnt can be transferred to similar workplace settings," according to her abstract.

Several deaths a call to action

Schouw introduced the HCW programme at the commercial power plant between November 2015 and December 2017. She was inspired to start the programme following the death of eight employees in consecutive months due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

“I knew them. Some of them were my age. At the end of the year, we put up a collage of everybody who had passed on. It was the first time we had had somebody die every month. It was a call for action."

Schouw set about inviting 11 respected, influential employees in managerial and key positions to join a cooperative inquiry group to design and implement the HCW programme to encourage others in following healthy lifestyles. “I called them my dream team."

Schouw's proposal to management to implement the programme was endorsed and the healthy choice was made the easy choice by transforming the workplace environment.

Health risk assessments were conducted, which included cholesterol, blood pressure and other tests on staff members, that were repeated at the end of 2015, 2016 and 2017.

“In conjunction with that, we changed the subsidised meals into healthy options. We removed the salt and prepared it in more healthy ways with the help of a dietician. We made fruit available for free, which resulted in increased fruit and vegetable consumption. We organised talks on health and set up physical activities, including running, walking, cycling and table tennis events."

Findings

Turning to her findings, she said the HCW programme was associated with “clinically significant improvements in behavioural, metabolic and psychosocial risk factors for NCDs.

“This study shows a reduction in alcohol use, an improvement in fruit and vegetable intake, an increase in physical activity levels, as well as improving metabolic risk factors for blood pressure and cholesterol over two years. It also illustrates the potential of health promotion in the workplace to complement interventions in the health services and community. Workplace-based interventions could make a substantial contribution to decreasing the NCD burden of disease in South Africa. This study contributes to research from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) on the effectiveness of HCW for reducing risk factors for NCDs.

“The study also suggests that the HCW programme is a highly affordable intervention. Significant improvement in risk factors for NCDs was seen, with minimal incremental costs to the company. The cost to implement the intervention was approximately $1 per individual, which is important for LMICs where resources are constrained."

Team work inspiring

Schouw said the most inspiring aspect of her work was working with a diverse set of professionals from different backgrounds. “We worked as a team from start to completion. The team offered their personal time and we were committed to seeing lives changed. The team led the people in healthy eating, exercise and habits. Individual lives were changed and it was evident where people queued for healthy meals and more staff engaged in physical activity. The change is visible on the plant. The NCD profile of the individuals changed. It was so rewarding! And, it was fun doing it!"

Schouw, a mother of three teenagers who loves camping, being in nature and writing poetry, is a regular inspirational speaker at women's conferences.

She would like to see the HCW programme adopted in other workplaces and the health sector, “specifically the national Department of Health".

If COVID-19 was a war, our health workers would have been in the firing line. They are the ones bravely protecting us as South African citizens against a lethal but invisible enemy.

Healthcare professionals, already stretched to the limits under normal circumstances, now also have to focus all their time, energy and expertise on COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. This is also taking its toll on their mental health. Statistics regarding mental health already show that the medical profession is suffering most, yet they now need to attend even more to us, the public. That is why we have to show we #Care4OurCarers with this year's #CrazySocks4Docs (CS4D) day, which is celebrated today on Friday, 29 May.

Professor Jimmy Volmink, Dean of Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences said: “We recognise that the mental strain on health professionals working in South Africa can be immense and that depression and mental fatigue are particularly high among professionals who dedicate their lives to the treatment of others. This is even more pronounced now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen the majority of our health professionals and volunteers at the coalface of managing and treating the rising number of South Africans affected by it."

Each year, CS4D is organised by the Ithemba Foundation, a non-profit with two public benefit goals, namely to raise awareness around depression and other related diseases such as anxiety, as clinical, biological diseases, and to support research. Ithemba means hope in isiXhosa – the message being that if depression is the illness of despair, we need to hang on to hope. In the words of Ithemba Director Dr Marita van Schalkwyk: “As health workers we must undertake to serve the sick and needy, but we must also look out for one another, help one another, inspire one another and seek help when we ourselves cannot keep up the demanding pace. There is always hope – the meaning of ithemba."

It is clear: Now, more than ever, healthcare professionals need our support and we need to show it in a visual way. We therefore request that the public wear funky mismatched socks on Friday 29 May to show we care for our carers. Included are everyone in the health professions, also academic and administrative staff on our medical campuses, as well as our future carers: our medical students. We know they are also suffering immensely under anxiety and fears, and despite this, still volunteering to work as extras in the fight against COVID-19. 

For medicine and health sciences students, there is a little bonus: Ithemba wants them to post their sock selfies on www.facebook.com/IthembaFoundation1 and encourage family and friends to like their sock selfies. The student with the most likes on each campus will get a cash prize of R1 000. So come on, all the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and dozens and dozens of friends out there, like those creative sock selfies on 29 May! And wear your own creative, crazy combination to show you #Care4OurCarers on #CrazySocks4Docs Day!

For more information on the campaign, contact Prof Lizette Rabe at ithembafoundation@mweb.co.za or LRABE@sun.ac.za

• a functional training course that focuses on compliance with the legal obligations of the Employment Equity Act and other policy and procedural frameworks and on the socio-cultural dynamics common in the implementation of these;
• a course on understanding diversity and difference that equips staff with diversity literacy. This course contributes to the development of the capacity to reason and critically engage on issues of diversity, providing both stimulating but accessible material and a space to engage the content in critical and thoughtful ways; and
• skills training. One of the main aims of Siyakhula is for the University community to change behaviours and for relational and empathetic relationships to be built between people. Embedding the skills and learning in people and ensuring their ownership of the vision of transformation are important to realise long-term transformation.
  
  

​In yet another example of how staff and students from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) at Stellenbosch University are rising to the challenge of COVID-19, a Daily Briefing, initiated by professors in the department of Global Health, has, in a matter of weeks, evolved into a vital document which is now serving many more people than originally intended.

The Daily Briefing – which was the brain child of Dr Brian Allwood, a senior specialist in the Division of Pulmonology – provides a round-up of all the latest statistics and research on the COVID-19 outbreak. Professor René English, who heads the FMHS's Division of Health Systems and Public Health, indicated that the aim of the briefings is primarily to provide critical care clinicians and public health experts with a “one-stop document" with all the latest and relevant information and clinical evidence about the pandemic to help them treat patients effectively and to assist in developing policies based on the most accurate and current data.

The briefings comprise the latest global data, South African data and a range of articles of interest drawn from scientific publications.

The daily compilation of the briefs has become yet another instance of how colleagues at the FMHS and Tygerberg Hospital have responded and collaborated in a time of crisis, and of how medical students have voluntarily joined forces to fight the battle against COVID-19.

English explained how the daily briefings came about, stressing that it has been a collaborative effort based on inspiring team work.

“When COVID-19 hit our shores and Tygerberg Hospital was gearing up to see patients, we as public health academics offered our assistance," English explained. Various role players from both the clinical and academic environments responded to the offer and a meeting was held to determine how best to collaborate.

“There were two broad areas for collaboration – one was on jointly writing research protocols and conducting research, and the second was providing summaries on the latest evidence from peer-reviewed research and key research outputs from scientific literature on a daily basis.

“We immediately started work on the research protocols … but with regard to the daily briefs, we didn't have anyone else immediately to start doing them, so I started doing them," said English.

“I scanned the literature, summarised key research articles on COVID-19 and put together the reviews. Allwood provided a template for how the briefs would look," said English.

Soon the briefs were being sent to a WhatsApp group of clinicians and Global Health colleagues.

Within a few days, English had received a request from medical students who wanted to assist with the briefs.

“So we drew them in too. Medical students Sergio Alves and Nonto Mponda mobilised a group of 15 students. I met with them and gave them the brief and we started collectively putting the brief together.

“Prof Taryn Young, head of the Department of Global Health, ran a training session for the students, which included a refresher on what students must look for when screening for articles.

“Later we also brought in Dr Elizna Maasdorp, who had also volunteered her services, to provide oversight of the morning briefs and she has done an excellent job. We also received wonderful support from Maasdorp's head of department, Prof Gerhard Walzl."

“The feedback was so positive. It was an unintended consequence of the briefs. It was never meant to go beyond the shores of a WhatsApp," said English.

She stressed that their daily briefings were merely summaries of key published research and not an “exact science".

“It was always meant to be quick summary of the latest evidence and the challenge is to maintain the quality of the brief and adhered to evidence-based practices, and critically reflect on the articles before putting them into the brief within a short turnaround time."

The briefs were initially sent to a WhatsApp group comprising clinicians at Tygerberg Hospital and the FMHS. At this stage they are going so far afield that the team is not sure how many people are reading them.

English said the briefs have proven to be a wonderful initiative for the university.

“They are a demonstration of how we as colleagues can pull together, cross the boundaries of academia and clinical medicine and support each other and respond in a time of crisis so as to deliver the best care we can to the patients, as it is actually about the patients at the end of the day," she said.

“It has been truly exceptional to see the response from the students and how they were able to mobilise, and then to see the spinoff."

English said the students involved would like to maintain the briefs going forward. “Even though classes will resume they want to continue and I think they should be lauded and they are very much part of the success of the morning brief."

Allwood said he believes the morning briefs are reaching “probably in the hundreds of doctors" every day.

“We have no idea how far it's going. It's difficult to work out. We are surprised and encouraged that they have been so widely and well received as it means it is filling an important need at the bedside. The collaboration has been phenomenal. Too often in clinical medicine we have worked in our own silos, but this initiative has fostered cross-divisional and cross-departmental collaboration within the University. It would be wonderful if this co-operation could be expanded to the greater university.

“We have massive resources and huge intellectual capital in the greater university that could be put to use on the frontlines."

Caption: Some of the staff and students involved in the compilation of the Daily Briefing.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the full article here.

Many countries, including South Africa and Nigeria in Africa, are moving to make it mandatory to wear non-medical cloth masks when people are outside their homes. The move is seen as a vital additional measure to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19.

Wearing cloth masks is being introduced in conjunction with maintaining a physical distance of at least 1.5 metres and strictly following hygiene measures such as hand washing, good cough etiquette, and decontamination of regularly used surfaces.

Medical face masks have been a vital part of COVID-19 prevention efforts in East Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

In countries where medical face masks are preserved for healthcare workers or are scarce, fabric face masks provide a cost-effective alternative. These can be homemade and are reusable.

There has been a growing movement of homemade mask production. Factories have also repurposed to produce fabric face masks to support commercial and free distribution.

In South Africa wearing a cloth mask in public places is now mandatory. In our view, there is sufficient evidence to suggest if everyone wears a mask, droplet transmission from each person will reduce and minimise exposure.

Transmission

The early phases of the COVID-19 epidemic included an evolving understanding of the routes of transmission of the coronavirus. It is now well established that droplet transmission is of vital concern. In the case of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in 2002, viral shedding via the respiratory tract happened mostly after people developed symptoms. But COVID-19 includes a pre-symptomatic phase where people can be infectious and still feel healthy and be unaware that they are infected. Mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic cases also occur.

Mandatory masking ensures that viral transmission by any potential carrier is markedly reduced. It emphasises the concept of “source control", in other words controlling the amount of a pathogen that is present in the environment. This is well expressed through the slogan: “I protect you, you protect me". This was popularised by the #masks4all initiative, started by a group of researchers and scientists to promote the scientific evidence showing that cloth masks limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

An additional benefit of the ubiquitous wearing of face masks is the reduced possibility that respiratory droplets will be released to settle on surfaces – or for smaller aerosolised particles to float in the air.

For those still in doubt, we have answered some key questions to address the biggest areas of controversy:

Why should I wear a cloth mask? To prevent potential transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 via respiratory droplets and particles released when you talk, laugh, sing, shout, cough or sneeze, or to prevent the potential inhalation virus laden particles. A cloth face mask also serves as barrier that prevents touch transfer from surfaces to your mouth and nose and a reminder not to touch other parts of your face – especially your eyes. In addition, a face mask reduces the extent to which droplets and particles end up on surfaces or float in the air.

When should I wear a cloth mask? As a general rule, any time that you are outside your home, and especially in close contact situations such as when using public transport, shopping, working, or in any crowded setting. If a person in your household is possibly infected with coronavirus, face masks must be used when in close proximity, in conjunction with separating living quarters. Helplines and healthcare providers are good places to go for additional steps to follow.

Can I make my cloth mask out of anything? The most effective approach is to use a thicker weave material such as cotton for the outer layer, and then to include at least two layers of softer material for comfort and additional barrier protection. Test the materials combined for breathability before sewing. There should be some resistance to airflow, but you should be able to breathe freely when using the completed mask. Fit is important to minimise air bypassing the cloth barrier via the sides. Materials used should be easily washable and heat tolerant for cleaning. Stretchy material should be avoided.

How do I wear the mask? Never share a mask with anyone and always use a mask that is freshly cleaned. Wash or sanitise your hands before putting on the mask and when removing. Ensure that it covers the area from the top of your nose to below your chin. When you remove the mask, move your hands forward so you can fold the front over itself. Hold on the sides and place in a safe area for cleaning.

How do I reuse a mask? A cloth mask can be washed in hot water with soap or washed in a washing machine. Iron or sun dry. You can also drop the mask into boiled water and leave to cool to a temperature that allows you to wash the mask with soap or washing detergent. Avoid harsh chemicals such as bleach as this will be toxic when wearing the mask. By having two masks available, you can wear one, and have one to wash.

Dr Warren Parker a public health communications specialist, and Dr Beth Engelbrecht from the Western Cape Department of Health contributed to this article.

About the authors:

Shaheen Mehtar - Infection Prevention and Control specialist, Stellenbosch University

Lucille Blumberg - Deputy Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and a member of the joint staff, University of the Witwatersrand

Marc Mendelson - Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Cape Town

Image: Sergio Lacueva - United Nations Covid-19 response

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First-year Achievement Awards / Eerstejaars Prestasietoekennings / Amabhaso eMpumelelo waBafundi boNyaka wokuQala ​

Top Achieving First-Year Students 2019​​

Nominated Lecturers 2019

The PPT of the evening is available here:FYAA for students and lecturers 20 May 2020.pdf

The First-year Achievement Awards event for top-performing first years from the 2019 academic year was celebrated on Wednesday, 20 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the event took place in the virtual space . 

Prof Arnold Schoonwinkel, Vice-Rector (Learning and Teaching), once again hosted the event with a warm welcome to the top-achieving first-year students of 2019  and the lecturers they nominated as positively impacting their learning as first years. Prof Schoonwinkel also welcomed Deans, Vice-deans and other staff who joined in the online event. Dr Antoinette van der Merwe, Senior Director of the Division for Learning and Teaching Enhancement, was the master of ceremony and introduced the esteemed Prof Thuli Madonsela as the guest speaker.

Prof Madonsela offered wisdom in these trying times to students, lecturers and everyone else in attendance: “hold faith like a mustard seed". Prof Madonsela is an avid mountaineer who has summitted Mount Kilimanjaro and she compared our current challenging experiences to climbing a mountain. She reminded us that we need to dig deep within ourselves for the strength to overcome adversity and achieve our goals.

This was an opportunity to celebrate achievements. While it would have been good to dress up and have “the normal" dinner event with our peers and colleagues, there is an upside to the virtual event. Family and friends of the nominated students and lecturers could join in the celebration by watching it live on screen. It was an opportunity to learn that we can be innovative with technology even though it may let us down sometimes. However, just as a car can break down on the way to an event or power may fail at the dinner, we overcome these challenges by working together and helping each other. 

Professor Madonsela also said that the COVID-19 pandemic is currently dictating our interactions but she reminded us that we have the inner strength to overcome many things. We were encouraged by her to help uplift society where we can, to do for others and to continue to be intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and socially strong in our endeavours to build a socially just South Africa for all its citizens. We should be guided by the values enshrined in our Constitution. 

​​​​A particularly valuable, rich and unique manuscript collection has recently been donated to the Stellenbosch University (SU) Library and Information Service. The Maguire San Ethnobotanical Collection consists of data collected by Mr Brian Maguire between 1954 and 1972 in close collaboration with Ju|'hoan (previously known as !Kung or !Khu) and ǃXoõ (previously known as !Kõ) communities in the Kalahari.

According to Dr Judy Maguire, her husband, Brian Maguire, became the field assistant to Prof Raymond Dart of “Australopithecus" fame in the 1960s and was researching the potential food plants of early hominids. “During this time he undertook comparative studies of the !Kõ hunter-gatherers in Central Western Botswana, especially as they were a group who had no annual, storable plant food staple to rely on such as the Manketti nuts of the !Kung (!Khu), and no permanent source of water either.

“Many hundreds of photographs were taken at this time, in the context of food gathering, the plant communities of economically important food and medicinal plants, the plants themselves as well as the parts that are eaten. Food preparation was also photographed. It was already apparent at this time that acculturation was taking its toll.

“Prior to this time, Maguire had gained experience as ethnobotanist to the Brock-Harvard-Peabody medical and the Marshall ethnological excursions to the !Kung of SWA during the 1950s, at a time when almost nothing had been recorded concerning the food and medicinal plants of indigenous populations.

“Subsequently, Brian Maguire (1978) completed an MSc (cum laude) entitled The Food Plants of the !Khu Bushmen of North Eastern South West Africa (Namibia). The work was undertaken at a time when little if anything was known about the subsistence ecology of the !Kung, and observations were made at a time when acculturation and impacts on their food-gathering practices were minimal. He died prematurely whilst busy with a Ph.D. on the !Kõ subsistence ecology and finalising the work on the potential vegetable dietary of early hominids in the then Transvaal."

The collection, consisting of manuscripts, typescripts, sketches, diagrams, photographic prints, black and white negatives, colour slides, field notebooks and plant collection registers, is of great scientific, research, national and heritage importance. It was the wish of the late Mr Maguire and is still the wish of Dr Judy Maguire that the collection becomes a usable resource which can be shared with younger generations. It offers the opportunity to learn from our forefathers about the sustainable use our indigenous plants in an African context.

A significant portion of the physical collection has been digitised and these digital records will be made openly available for research purposes on the Library's Digital Heritage Repository, SUNDigital Collections. The addition of the collection will ideally complement other digital heritage and natural heritage collections currently on the repository such as the Rudolf Marloth botanical illustrations collection and the James Walton vernacular architecture collection, which includes information and images of various artefacts of Southern African indigenous people.

The physical collection will be hosted in the Manuscript Section of the Special Collections division in the Library in due course. Once again, the collection will enrich current holdings and complement collections such as the Robert Broom, John Muir, BIC van Eeden and Jan Anthonie Engelbrecht collections, all of which relate to indigenous botany, zoology, languages and early customs.

Dr Maguire believes that the knowledge locked in the collection can be used to “assess the attrition of indigenous knowledge systems, and to achieve a better understanding of the context of knowledge transmission – its connection to language loss for example (plant names) and to understand what factors could help to preserve the transmission of knowledge before it disappears with increasing modernisation and acculturation of communities".

The comprehensive, meticulously documented collection was brought to the attention of the Library by Dr Kerry Jones, Research Associate at SU and Postdoctoral Researcher in Linguistics at Rhodes University. Dr Jones was instrumental in the sorting and digitisation of the collection in collaboration with Dr Maguire and will continue to work on the collection in collaboration with mother tongue speakers in the future.

Liaise with Mimi Seyffert-Wirth, Deputy Director: Digital Scholarship (Library and Information Service) at mseyf@sun.ac.za for more information.