Monthly Archives: September 2010
Drug-resistant HIV threat looming
21 September 2010
HIV-positive patients about to start antiretroviral treatment are warned not to skip even the occasional dose of their medication because of the virus’ ability to mutate rapidly and become drug resistant; but what about patients who have never taken treatment and already have a drug-resistant strain of the virus?
In Africa the extent of “primary”, or transmitted HIV drug resistance in treatment-naïve (never treated) patients is largely unknown, but a recent study at three clinics in Lusaka, Zambia, found that nearly 6 percent of patients about to start HIV treatment for the first time already had resistance to standard first-line antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.
Matrics “˜not ready for tertiary study’
20 September 2010
The university sector had not been able to convince the government that the vast majority of those entering tertiary education were inadequately prepared, University of the Western Cape (UWC) vice-chancellor Brian O’Connell said at a conference to mark the end of the 10-year South Africa-Norway Tertiary Education Development Programme (Santed).
Universities have long complained that matriculants are ill-prepared for tertiary study and research shows that almost half the 12000 students, across many fields of study, who wrote proficiency tests conducted by a number of universities in 2008-09 needed “œextensive” support in maths, language and general academic skills.
South Africa’s population number not certain
17 September 2010
The debate on the estimated population number of people residing in South Africa further deepened yesterday with the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) releasing its figures at the Bryanston Country Club in Bryanston on Monday, 13 September.
Elaborating on the method used to calculate the population of South Africa, BMR’s Professor Eric Udjo said they added the total birth plus immigration rate, and subtracting along the total death and emigration rate. However, Udjo added the figures are not facts, but estimates, and the BMR could not reach a precise number as it is difficult to present more accurate numbers because the South African censuses carried out in 1996 and 2001 have been controversial, and the next census is only scheduled for next year.
Udjo concluded that no-one knows the total population size with certainty, and there is no gold standard to assess this. He added that the accuracy of STATSSA and the BMR’s figures can only be assessed after the fact, when a reliable census is available, but this remains in question, and it is therefore necessary to work with the figures we currently have.
Read the full article at Totally Mad and and share your views in our Comments section below.
From success to scale… expanding your impact
29 September 2010 8:30 am to 5:00 pm 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Matt Nash, from Duke University, is in town to share findings from intensive research on scaling social initiatives that the Duke Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) has been coordinating over the last seven years (see www.ScalingSocialImpact.org).
This one-day workshop will look at practical issues and new approaches to some of the following questions:
- When is it appropriate to scale?
- What are the key organizational capacities necessary for successful scaling?
- What are various models for scaling, and in which cases should they be used?
- How can we determine which organizations or ideas should be scaled up, and which are best left small?
- How can we harness the potential of movements (rather than organisations) to achieve large-scale impact?
- How does innovation spread? How can the spread of innovation be encouraged?
- How can capital markets be harnessed to facilitate scaling?
- How can governments and intermediaries best facilitate scaling?
Date: 29 September 2010
Time: 8:30am – 5:00pm
Location: GIBS Downtown Campus: 130 Pritchard Street, Johannesburg CBD
(*Shuttles available from GIBS Illovo Campus)
Course Fee: R700
About Matthew Nash
Matt Nash is the Managing Director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. In addition to his development and administrative responsibilities, Matt leads the Fuqua On Board program, founded and directs the Global Consulting Practicum, advises student consulting projects and independent studies, and advises the student run chapter of Net Impact. Matt is also a visiting lecturer at Duke’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, where he co-teaches an undergraduate course in entrepreneurial leadership and social innovation. Matt brings to Fuqua extensive domestic and international social and public sector experience in governance, strategic planning, organization development, performance measurement, business process transformation, and leadership development.
Prior to joining the CASE team, he was a senior consultant in strategy and change management with the public sector practice at IBM Business Consulting Services (formerly PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting). In this position and previous consulting capacities, Matt served a diverse set of clients ranging from community-based organizations, including a nonprofit resource center, a community housing board, and a disabilities rights coalition, to large agencies such as World Vision, UNICEF and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Previously, Matt led the Leadership Institute at Yale’s Center for Public Service and volunteered with the U.S. Peace Corps in Romania. Matt is a graduate of the Yale School of Management (MBA) and Yale College (BA), where he received the graduation prize for public service. A recipient of Vice President Al Gore’s “œHammer Award” for reinventing government, Matt was recently awarded the inaugural “Member Achievement Award” by Net Impact, the global network of business professionals seeking to use their skills for social, environmental, and economic impact.
Twenty-two of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa have reduced new HIV infections by more than 25%
Ahead of the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on 20-22 September 2010, UNAIDS today released data on progress towards MDG 6 and called for leveraging the AIDS response to support all MDGs.
The data shows that countries with the largest epidemics in Africa””Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe””are leading the drop in new HIV infections. Between 2001 and 2009, 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a decline of more than 25% in new HIV infections. The number of new HIV infections is steadily falling or stabilising in most parts of the world.
HIV-positive orphans face new dilemma
15 September 2010
Orphans with HIV may be kept alive at institutions but when they turn 18 and have to fend for themselves, a new kind of life sentence awaits them.
Researchers at Cape Town-based Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa warned that “improved access to anti-retroviral therapy has created a whole new dilemma for Africa”.
They said it used to be common at the home for “HIV-infected children to die every other day”.
“Now they report that due to increased access to anti-retroviral drugs and general improvements in the care that they can provide they have had no deaths in seven years,” the researchers said.
“But new challenges are emerging as most of the children reach their pre-teen and teenage years.
“Caregivers and counsellors now have to deal with issues of dating, sex and health education at a different level.
“Funds also need to be secured for the children’s post-matric education, as well as life-skills training, especially for those with special needs.”
Read the full article at The Sowetan Live and and share your views in our Comments section below.
St. Mark’s turns 25
14 September 2010
16 October 2010 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm Founding independent schools for black children was virtually impossible in the South Africa of a quarter century ago. But there was a loophole, an unintended consequence of apartheid’s mad plan to carve this country into lots of ethnic states – you could start the school in a so-called “homeland”.
And so it was, with financial backing from the Anglo American and De Beers Chairman’s Fund, that St Mark’s College was founded at Jane Furse in what is now Limpopo province. It thrived, and thrives still.
As founding principal Peter Anderson notes: “œThe first 60 little boys and girls, three very young and unqualified teachers, and my wife and I, were the Church’s rebuff to Bantu Education”¦ the learners leapt at the opportunity and did well. Nearly all are well placed”.
Saturday 16 October 2010 sees St Mark’s College celebrate its 25th birthday with a gala dinner at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. Entertainment is provided by the Black Tie Ensemble.
Tickets are R300 a head. Anyone wishing to attend should kindly contact Mr Khutso Ramontja on 073 969 2219 or at khutsor@gmail.com
Extraordinary UN summit aims to rescue millennium development goals
Faced with the looming failure of most of their anti-poverty goals as the deadline approaches, nearly 150 world leaders will hold an extraordinary summit in New York next week to try to salvage their ambitious plan.
The summit at the United Nations is aimed at rescuing the Millennium Development Goals, a bold set of targets for slashing poverty worldwide by 2015. A decade after the UN set those targets, it’s increasingly clear that none of the goals will be achieved by the deadline – especially in Africa, where the gap on some goals is as daunting as ever.
South Africa loses R550bn a year on illiteracy
13 September 2010
Illiteracy is costing the South African economy as much as R550 billion a year, according to a recent study conducted by Stellenbosch University’s economics department.
In the model educational quality, economic growth and income over time are calculated in several similar countries and compared with South Africa’s education quality and investment by government and households relative to gross domestic product (GDP).
Anglo American Chairman’s Fund wins Special Service award
9 September 2010
At the 90th birthday celebration of the SA Federation for Mental Health last night, the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund was presented with a Special Service Award, which was motivated by the North Gauteng and Cape Mental Health Societies.
The award was presented for the Chairman’s Fund’s sustained contribution to people living with mental health disabilities and for its significant contribution and creative engagement with the non-profit sector as a whole.
Said Sarah Morrison, Tshikululu’s client relationship manager for the Chairman’s Fund, “The Anglo American Chairman’s Fund makes a careful choice of partners who are already achieving; who show the determination to succeed; who unleash latent talents in their people through initiative, discipline, team effort and sheer hard work; is the only road to increasing opportunity and expanding the horizons of possibility of mental health carers and users.
The Cape and the North Gauteng Mental Health Societies are two such champions.”
