University of South Africa

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    Fonetiese Transkripsies

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    Hierdie hulpbron verduidelik hoe om fonetiese transkripsies te doen.Afrikaans and Theory of Literatur

    Factors contributing to pulmonary tuberculosis patients' non-conversion at clinics in Ekurhuleni Health District

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    According to the Global Tuberculosis report of 2015, South Africa had about 834 TB cases per 100 000 people, which was the second-highest rate of TB occurrence in the world. In response, 19 municipalities in South Africa identified districts with a high burden of TB and these were prioritised for concomitant remedial attention by the National Strategic Plan. The Ekurhuleni District Municipality was identified as one of those districts. Tuberculosis patients’ non-conversion is a major contributing factor to strategies designed to end Tuberculosis in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to determine factors contributing to pulmonary Tuberculosis patients’ non-conversion at two months of treatment. The study was conducted at five East sub-district clinics of Ekurhuleni Health District. A qualitative, explorative, and descriptive research design was adopted. Data were collected in two phases, through virtual and face-to face interviews with seventeen purposively sampled participants comprising nine health care professionals and eight patients with Tuberculosis. Thematic data analysis was used to generate findings that revealed three themes in each phase. The following were determined as contributory factors to Tuberculosis patients’ non-conversion as stated by the nurses: health system service, patient care, and social factors. Findings generated by the patients revealed health care, socio-economic and patient-related factors as contributing to non-conversion. There is a need to explore strategies that can address health care, patients' issues, and social issues faced by the nurses and patients.M.P.H.Health Studie

    Naamwoorde

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    Afrikaans and Theory of Literatur

    The evaluation of emergency mental health practices in the treatment of mental health patients at emergency scenes in South Africa

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    Background: Emergency care providers regularly manage mental health patients in a pre-hospital environment. The effective treatment of the mental health patient is dependent upon the competency of the emergency care provider. Experience of the researcher both as an emergency care provider and trauma counsellor has proven that most emergency care providers, including himself do not have the competency needed to manage a mental health patient. Aims: To investigate the competency of emergency care providers to manage a mental health patient during a mental health emergency. Setting: Emergency care providers from four private ambulance services, who are registered as independent practitioners and are operational within the boundaries of the Tshwane Metropole. Methods: The competency theory as the theoretical framework was chosen and semi structured interviews were conducted to establish the level of competency of the independent emergency care providers to manage mental health patients. The competency theory constructs of knowledge, skills and attitudes and the effect of on-scene behaviour of the emergency care providers were investigated through the mode of semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed, and subsequently analysed using the competency theory as the theoretical framework. Results: A total of 14 participants consented to participate in the study. It was found that the participants were not competent in managing mental health patients. There was an acknowledgement by the participants of these shortcomings. This made the likelihood of the acceptance of a pre-hospital mental health assessment protocol highly likely, however, there was a proviso that the pre-hospital mental health assessment protocol must be South Africanised to accommodate the multicultural diversity that is South Africa. Conclusion: Participants acknowledged that they did not have the competency to manage mental health patients in a pre-hospital environment and that it was highly likely that the implementation of a pre-hospital mental health assessment protocol would be accepted.M.A. (Psychology)Psycholog

    The Use and Perceived Value of Strategic Management Tools in a Food Manufacturing Company in South Africa.

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    Academics and executives are increasingly in agreement that managers must pay more attention to the available strategic management tools, to acquire competitive advantages and surviving under pressure. Globally, there have been numerous studies conducted regarding strategic management tool usage. However, this is not the case in South Africa. There is limited research about the successful implementation of strategic management tools in manufacturing companies in South Africa, and whether the implementation thereof would assist companies to be financially competitive. The purpose of this study was to investigate the strategic management tool usage of a food manufacturing company in South Africa, with the aim of determining the use and perceived value of strategic management tools in a manufacturing company - which will be referred to as KP Foods. Based on an internal cross-sectional survey design, a quantitative data collection method was selected. By making use of a predesigned, standard, and validated online survey questionnaire, data was collected from 49 participants at KP Foods. To analyse the data, two different variables were used – nominal and ordinal; and contingency tables were used to present findings. The results indicated that strategic management tools are being implemented by the management of KP Foods. It also revealed that not all employees are aware of the specific strategic management tools that are being used and more importantly, it became clear that general employees are not aware of their role in the strategy implementation. The management of KP Foods is dedicated to implementing the strategy and they are continuing to monitor its progress. The managerial implications suggest that KP Foods implement strategy training and recommends that all employees are involved in the strategy formulation and implementation, in order to improve the knowledge of employees of their duties and contributions to the overall strategy. Future research should consider including numerous manufacturing companies in South Africa, to retrieve a bigger sample size in order to accurately make conclusions and suggestions about the specific strategic management tool usage in the industry

    Confusion in the Removal of Directors by Shareholders under the Companies Act 71 of 2008: Miller v Natmed Defence (Pty) Ltd

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    This note critically analyses the judgment in Miller v Natmed Defence (Pty) Ltd 2022 (2) SA 554 (GJ), in which the court ruled on the validity of the removal of a director by the company’s sole shareholder. Three issues were in contention: whether a shareholder must furnish the director with reasons for the proposed resolution to remove a director from office under s 71 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008; whether a shorter notice period for the shareholders’ meeting was legally acceptable; and whether the meeting that was held telephonically was valid. The court ruled that the director’s removal from office was valid and dismissed his request to be reinstated as a director. This note critically analyses the judgment and argues that the court misinterpreted some aspects of s 71 of the Act.Mercantile La

    Religion, Marriage, Sexualities, Culture and Family Dynamics. Edited by: Magezi Elijah Baloyi Victor MS Molobi Naicker Linda. 2022

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    The traditional trademark for Sepedi weddings is the ‘manyalo’ songs. For decades, the lyrics of manyalo songs have been crafted to serve a functional and educational purpose. This chapter aimed to explore if manyalo songs, as tools of empowerment, uphold gender equality. The newly gazetted Green Paper on marriages in South Africa envisages that all people in South Africa would conclude marriages in an equitable, non-discriminatory manner irrespective of their sexual orientations and cultural persuasions. Following qualitative discourse analysis, the chapter analysed data from the lyrics of 25 manyalo songs. The songs were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected from the audios of the songs and transcribed. Examples of traditional gender order that the chapter identified as unequal and discriminatory were drawn from the lyrics, and generalisations were made based on literal and satirical interpretations. The analysis revealed patriarchal practices that do not reflect the values of equality, and the findings reflected gender hierarchy, heteronormativity, kinship norms and gender subversions. Therefore, the chapter contributes to the existing knowledge of gender order and adds to the understanding of the patriarchal constructions within Sepedi society.Linguistics and Modern LanguagesThis work is based on the research supported by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences

    Adherence of healthcare providers to malaria case management guidelines of the formal private sector in north-western Ethiopia: an implication for malaria control and elimination

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    Abstract Background Malaria is an infectious disease which has been globally targeted for elimination in at least 35 of 90 endemic countries by 2030. Most successful malaria elimination country programmes have engaged the private health sector in an effort to identify, document, investigate, provide effective treatment, and follow-up cases. However, there has been limited rigorous research showing evidence of adherence among healthcare providers of the formal private health sector to national malaria diagnosis and treatment guidelines in Ethiopia, starting from malaria control to elimination phases. The aims of this study were to investigate and explain the level of adherence to malaria diagnosis and treatment guidelines among healthcare providers working in formal private health facilities in north-western Ethiopia. Methods An explanatory sequential mixed method design was conducted in the West Gojjam Zone of Ethiopia. Quantitative data were extracted from 1650 medical records of adult uncomplicated malaria outpatients served in 11 private-for-profit health facilities. In addition, using a qualitative approach, 33 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with healthcare providers were conducted. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using eight steps. Results Of 1650 suspected malaria cases in adult outpatients, 80.6% (1330/1650) were screen tested using microscopy and the remainder 19.4% (320/1650) were tested using multispecies rapid diagnosis tests (RDTs). Hence, the results revealed that private healthcare providers universally adhered to diagnosis guidelines. In addition, after following-up and excluding other causes of fever, 4.1% (56/1376) patients were clinically diagnosed with uncomplicated malaria. Despite this, the proportion of private healthcare provider adherence with confirmed malaria case treatment guidelines was 20.9% (69/330). In addition, 1320 (95.9%) of adult outpatients with negative laboratory results were not treated. Some of the identified determinant factors for sub-optimal adherence of healthcare providers to malaria guidelines were interruptions in supply and lack of availability of recommended anti-malarial drugs, lack of availability of quality assured laboratory supplies, and poor knowledge of the recommendations of the national standards. Conclusions Private healthcare providers adhered to universal parasitological diagnosis, providing comprehensive counseling, and linking patients with community health workers. In addition, almost all laboratory negative patients were not treated with anti-malarial drugs. However, only one-fifth of confirmed patients were treated in line with national guideline recommendations. Malaria control and elimination efforts across Ethiopia could be improved through establishing a collaborative function of a win-win public private mix partnership model. In addition, including the data of the private health sector in the health information system could show real malaria burden and use the information to improve the adherence to malaria diagnosis, treatment, and reporting standards within the targeted era of elimination. Therefore, building the capacity of private healthcare providers and ensuring the availability of all nationally recommended drugs and supplies in private health sector facilities is recommended to improve the quality of services

    Challenges faced by healthcare workers at a central hospital in Zimbabwe after contracting COVID-19: An interpretive phenomenological analysis study

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    Background Healthcare workers play a critical role in the delivery of healthcare services. Because of the high risk of exposure to healthcare workers, the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant impact as they struggled to contain the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the challenges they faced after contracting COVID-19. Methods An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) design was employed to gain insight into the lived experiences of healthcare workers who contracted COVID-19 in the course of their duties. This study involved participants who were healthcare workers based at a central hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Data were collected through in-depth interviews that were audio recorded. A sample size of ten was reached based on data saturation. Results The study showed that healthcare workers lacked psychosocial support, experienced economic challenges as they incurred diagnostic and treatment costs. The study also found that the healthcare workers experienced stigma and discrimination both at work and in the community. Findings also indicate that healthcare workers did not receive institutional support. The study demonstrated lack of preparedness at the institution evidenced by inadequate testing for COVID-19 and shortage of personal protective equipment.College of Human Science

    Determining the extent of de facto water re-use in South Africa : the case of wastewater treatment plants in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces

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    No keywords provided.The water quality of South African rivers is greatly impacted by insufficiently treated wastewater effluents (de facto reuse). Although de facto reuse serves as an alternative water supply it poses potential threats to human health and the environment. In this study therefore, the contribution of de facto reuse was determined for 6 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Two methods were used to determine de facto reuse, viz. wastewater tracers (caffeine (CAF), lamivudine (LAM), and sulfamethoxazole (SULF)) and a geographic information system (GIS) based method. The wastewater tracers were selected based on their abundant use in food and medicine. Initially, the wastewater tracers were identified using ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) by their fragmentation patterns. After identification, the method was optimized and validated and then used to quantify de facto reuse. Subsequently, the wastewater traces were used to validate the GIS model results. The GIS model was developed using stream flow data and wastewater treatment locations to do spatial analysis for the WWTPs and the rivers they discharge to. Consequently, mass balance calculations were conducted based on the volumetric flow of the WWTPs and the stream flows thereby determining de facto re-use. In addition, the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs were predicted for the three Kwa-Zulu Natal WWTPs based on population equivalent (PE). The target analytes were successfully identified by their fragmentation patterns. The obtained fragments corresponded with the fragments recorded in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Estimation Program Interface. According to the optimization results, methanol (MeOH) is the most suitable solvent because it yielded higher signal-to-noise ratios for the analytes compared to acetonitrile (ACN) resulting in better sensitivity of the method. Solid phase extraction (SPE) efficiency results for CAF showed high recovery % in HLB cartridges compared to C-18 cartridges (103.75 and 56.98% respectively). In contrary, LAM had high recovery % in C-18 cartridges compared to HLB cartridges (100.71 and 32.91% respectively). In addition, low recoveries were obtained for SULF in both cartridges (31.74 and 20.05% respectively). Method validation results showed that the method was linear because the correlation coefficients (R2) of the calibration curves for all the analytes ranged from 0.9921-0.9984. Further, the results for matrix effect revealed that the sample matrix suppressed the ions of the target analytes because the matrix effect percentages were less than 100%. The method was also sensitive because of low limits of detection (LODs) (0.34, 0.06, and 0.04 μg/L) and limits of quantification (LOQs) (1.03, 0.17, and 0.14 μg/L) were obtained for CAF, LAM, and SULF, respectively. The results for repeatability and reproducibility demonstrated that the method is precise because the %RSD of the peak areas were < 4% and < 11% respectively. Additionally, the results proved that the method is precise because the mean recovery percentages were between 99.3% and 101.4%. In addition, the method was robust because the %RSDs of injection volumes and mobile phase flow rates were less than 7%. Method application results demonstrated that the concentrations of the target analytes were higher in winter (11.8-912.1 μg/L) compared to spring (0.5-10.6 μg/L). The results for de facto reuse quantification proved that LAM is a more suitable tracer for quantifying de facto reuse than CAF and SULF because it yielded more reliable results. This is because LAM has a lower rate of degradation compared to CAF and SULF. De facto reuse trends were determined for WWTP1, WWTP2, WWTP3, WWTP4, and WWTP6 using a GIS model over a period of 10 years. The data was selected from 2009 to 2018 based on availability of monthly stream flow data. Out of all the WWTPs, WWTP1 had the highest percentages for de facto reuse (62.75-107.94%) throughout the 10 years due to its large design capacity (4.63 m3/s). Consequently, the GIS-model and tracer method results were compared, and the results obtained using both methods followed a similar pattern (4.04-85.49 and 16.55-77.32 respectively). In contrary, the results obtained for WWTP3 (using the tracer method) were very high because of seasonal streamflow variations. A case study was conducted for the Jukskei river (one of the rivers mostly impacted by de facto reuse) and the assessment results demonstrated that the high levels of de facto reuse are a result of the large population served by WWTP1. Also, O&M costs were predicted for WWTP3, WWTP4 and WWTP5 and the results revealed that the O&M costs are influenced by the economies of scale (R 171.34, 5.53 and 1.69 respectively).M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering)School of Engineerin

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