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Measuring of social returns by South African impact investors
Get PDFThere is vagueness in measuring the social returns of impact investments. This creates uncertainty for investors on the impact that the investments have on the socio-economic environment in South Africa. There is no standard measurement metric, and this casts doubt on the quality of the impact data reported. This may hamper South Africa's potential to benefit from the positive effects of impact investments. This dissertation sought to understand the social returns measurement instruments within the South African impact investment landscape and explore the factors that influence their utility. The study was exploratory and qualitative in nature undertaking a thematic analysis of interview data from 11 impact investment practitioners in institutions in South Africa. From the analysis of the interview data, the prevalent measurement instruments within the impact investment landscape in South Africa can be categorised into frameworks, performance indicators, and monitoring and evaluation methods. The findings also revealed that there is no single measurement standard for impact investments in the South African context. Furthermore, the study revealed the subjectivity of social returns, inconsistent and weak reporting standards, inadequate measurement metrics, and a lack of established standards as the main themes when looking at the factors influencing the utility of measurement instruments. Finally, the measurement of social returns can be improved by assigning monetary value to impact, optimisation of measurement through technology, ESG integration and value-driven decision-making, narrative-based impact reporting, and external validation and accounting. Based on the findings of the study, the author recommends the establishment of a single customised measurement tool that incorporates performance indicators of SDGs and ESGs be adopted in the South African impact investment context and that more research should be undertaken on the use of technology to track and report impact data
Biomarkers and cell phenotypes in TB patients with minimal or persisting lung inflammation post-anti-TB treatment and ex-vivo atorvastatin immunomodulatory effects on M. tuberculosis-infected PBMC
Get PDFUnresolved lung inflammation post-anti-TB treatment necessitates the evaluation of additional host-directed therapies (HDT). Statins, recognized for their pleiotropic effects, show potential as immunomodulators to reduce post-TB lung inflammation. The ongoing StatinTB clinical trial utilizes a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled approach post-anti-TB treatment to assess the safety and efficacy of atorvastatin in reducing post TB lung inflammation. At the end of TB treatment, Mtb culture-negative participants were stratified into minimal (Arm A, Total Lung Glycolysis (TLG) < 50 SUV) or persisting (Arm B/C, TLG ≥ 50 SUV) lung inflammation using Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) scan. Arm B/C received atorvastatin (40mg/day) or placebo for 12 weeks, and this data remains currently blinded. Study participants were evaluated for hematological, biochemical, and inflammatory parameters where ALP, proBNP, vitamin D, and CRP showed significant increases in Arm B/C compared to Arm A a
Hustle Revolution: Participation of young graduates in the informal economy of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Get PDFThe main purpose of the study was to investigate the experiences of young graduates who participate in the informal economy of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This study aimed to answer the question of whether formal education gives young graduates competing in the informal economy a competitive advantage or disadvantage. This was done through in-depth interviews, hanging out (observations) and casual conversations with young graduates who participate in the informal economy in Bulawayo and organisations that work with youth in the city. Twelve participants were selected using snowball and purposive sampling techniques. The study was grounded in the concept of 'waithood' and Bourdieu's theory of practice, with a specific focus on the component of cultural capital. The study's findings demonstrate that to address the challenge of unemployment after graduation, young graduates participate in the informal economy. Results indicated that young graduates participate in the informal economy to enhance their livelihoods, pursue their passion, gain employment, cope with waithood and delayed adulthood and for multiple streams of income. Benefits such as financial independence, the ability to support families and getting employment were also noted in this study. This study found that formal education gives young graduates a competitive advantage that manifests itself as better business strategies as they operate in the informal economy of Bulawayo. However, young graduates highlighted challenges such as less hustle mentality, competition, and capital, just to mention a few. Prospects of future work by almost all the young graduates highlighted that they preferred to participate in both the formal and informal economy. The experiences of young graduates in the informal economy were positive and negative. This study recommends a policy that prioritises young graduates, structural changes in tertiary education and the economy, and support for small businesses in the informal economy. It also raises awareness of the mismatch between tertiary education and the changing needs of the labour market in Zimbabw
Health, healing and disease in South African township
No full textIntwaso is a condition which has been the subject of a great deal of
psychological and psychiatric research over the past 50 years. Rarely
have researchers rooted their interpretations within the social context,
at either a micro or macro level. In this thesis it is argued that
these omissions have resulted in a misunderstanding of the very nature·
of the process of intwaso. This project therefore aims to both remedy
and re-approach a study of the condition by locating it within a range
of other illness-episodes suffered by household-members. Secondly, a
particular illness, tuberculosis will be used as a control in order to
establish the social determinants of differing patient-family prophylactic
measures and therapy-management. This is of central importance to an
understanding of intwaso as some social contexts create circumstances
in which ancestral possession is the explanation for successive illnessepisodes and misfortunes.
An understanding of the social recognition or non-recognition of intwaso,
the initiation into and functioning of a diviner-school is also of
importance to an understanding of the process of intwaso. The schools
are seen as being shaped in response to the structural stresses of living
in a South African township.
The initial approach adopted in this thesis is to give a wide-angled
"focusing shot" of the conditions and way of life of Guguletu residents,
before honing in on a re-analysis of intwaso. The central tenet of
this thesis is that without contextualization, a distorted interpretation
of intwaso is inevitable, because the construction of the research design
rules out the possibility of seeing the co-incidental nature of the
condition
“They know exactly with whom to speak German and with whom English”: Grade-R children's language and literacy practices in the context of the linguistic and literacy repertoires and ideologies of four Cape Town bilingual families with German as a heritage language
Get PDFSouth Africa is a country of 11 official languages, with a majority of the population speaking at least two languages. Bilingual/multilingual upbringing is the reality of most South African children, and the transfer and maintenance of heritage languages is an important topic in the field of language and literacy studies. A range of different factors come into play in bilingual and multilingual parents' decisions about how to raise their children concerning languages. The field of family language policy (FLP) shows how language ideologies are involved as to how languages are managed, learned, and negotiated within individual families. Furthermore, families engage in a wide range of language and literacy practices in their homes, which are shaped by the FLP and their language and literacy ideologies. This case study, which draws on linguistic ethnography, focuses on the language and emergent literacy practices of four grade R learners in their bilingual/multilingual homes where German is the heritage language, in Cape Town, South Africa. The data was collected through interviews with the parents, observations of the children in their homes, and the collection of literacy artefacts. The observations focused on the language used during family interactions, noting the conscious and unconscious choices around family language policies, as well as emergent literacy practices and uses of digital technologies. Findings show that family language policy and the language ideologies of the parents influence the language and literacy practices of their children. Translanguaging (Garcia 2009) was used in all families, the children showed a variety of linguistic repertoires (Busch 2012), and they were able to engage in meaningful conversations in different languages. The heritage language process was influenced by the parents' own bilingual/multilingual upbringing, and the parents put a lot of value on the acquisition and maintenance of the heritage language, German. Emergent literacy practices took place in different languages and the children were able to draw on their linguistic repertoires to make meaning. The language and literacy ideologies of the school (in our case, a kindergarten with German as the language of teaching and learning) influence the emergent literacy practices at home, and the parents followed the lead of the school not to teach their children how to read and write at home. The children's language identity was shaped by their family language policy and their parents' reasoning to uphold their heritage language. Language ideologies play an important role in the negotiation of FLP and children are making their own language choices by using translanguaging to communicate. They, therefore, have an agentic role in their language-learning process and should be seen as co-constructing the FLP
Whole exome sequencing: a customised approach to exploring the genetic basis of musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries
Get PDFSeveral DNA sequence variants have previously been associated with the risk of musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries, suggesting a role for genetics in the aetiology of common sporting injuries such as chronic Achilles tendinopathy (AT) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. Genetic risk modifiers have primarily been identified using a hypothesis driven candidate gene approach. However, the ability to identify all risk-conferring variants using this approach alone is limited. Therefore, the primary aim of this thesis was to further define the molecular signatures of musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries mapping to specific genomic intervals encoding several structural and regulatory components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Genes encoding the tenascin-C (TNC) glycoprotein (9q33.1) and the α1 chain of type XXVII collagen (COL27A1, 9q32), as well as matrix metallopeptidase 3 (MMP3, 11q22) and the α1 chain of type I collagen (COL1A1, 17q21.33), have previously been associated with the risk of injury and were therefore prioritised for further interrogation. Previously associated variants within these regions and/or new candidate variants identified by whole exome sequencing (WES) and prioritised through the application of a customised, tiered filtering strategy, were genotyped in several previously recruited, self-identified White Achilles tendon injury and ACL rupture cohorts. The second aim of this study was to determine whether the observed risk-associated signatures in the self-identified White cohorts were similar to those underpinning injury in an ancestrally admixed sample, using ACL ruptures in a South African Coloured cohort as the phenotypic model
Addressing the ongoing threat of antimicrobial resistance: synthetic investigations of novel amicetin and B-lactam antibiotics
Get PDFAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant risk to global health security and threatens to undermine a century of healthcare gains. Within this thesis, we attempt to address the ongoing threat of AMR through performing synthetic investigations of amicetin and novel -lactam therapeutics. Chapter 1 essentially highlights the role and importance of synthesizing complex chiral scaffolds and heterocycles in discovering new antibiotics by providing a brief historical context and background of disease etiology and medicine (chemotherapy), AMR, -lactam antibiotics, heterocyclic chemistry, and green chemistry techniques such as organocatalysis and visible-light photocatalysis, which were utilized to synthesize the relevant compounds described in this study. Chapter 2 provides background on the natural antibiotic, amicetin, and a current literature review on the synthesis of -tertiary amines (ATAs), focusing mainly on the electrophilic amination strategy, which was relevant to this study. Chapter 2 also provides the aims and objectives for Chapter 3. Chapter 3 discusses the results obtained within the first project of this study, namely the attempted synthesis of p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)--methyl-L-serine substructure of amicetin, from PABA as the starting point. Synthetic access to the PABA--methyl-L-serine moiety would allow for structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies to be performed on the natural antibiotic. This synthetic route involved a Cinchona alkaloid organocatalyzed electrophilic hydrazination of a novel -dicarbonyl system, namely -formylamides (AFAs), with azodicarboxylates. Novel AFAs are synthesized via a Ti-Claisen condensation between methyl formate, a methodology also previously developed within our research group. Unfortunately, due to difficulties encountered within the initial synthetic route and time constraints, we could not reach the PABA--methyl-L-serine end-target. However, the adjusted synthetic route devised to reach the end-target seems highly feasible and forms part of the future work for this project. Instead, we showcased the synthetic utility of our aminated products by functionalizing them into N-amino oxazolidinones and oxazolidinones, which may find applications in asymmetric synthesis. Chapter 4 provides a brief introduction to monobactams and a brief current literature review of the synthesis of 2-azetidinones. Chapter 4 also provides the aims and objectives for Chapter 5. Chapter 5 discusses the results obtained within the second project of this study, namely the synthesis of novel 2-azetidinones via a radical photocyclization of acrylamides enabled by triplet energy transfer visible-light photocatalysis, a methodology which was also previously developed within our research group, and investigation into their antimicrobial activity. Although the preliminary bioactivity data of the synthesized 2-azetidinones against WT Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 49775 was disappointing, it should be noted that the project is still well in its infancy, and further investigation and evaluation is warranted to assess whether the scaffold is worth pursuing for potential antimicrobial activity or other biological applications
Investigating the role of commonly misused drugs in suspected unnatural and/or unexplained deaths in Cape Town in 2022
Get PDFBackground: Unnatural deaths, which include homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths, often require toxicological analysis to assist with determining the cause of death. In 2022, the Forensic Toxicology Unit within the Western Cape Forensic Pathology Service piloted a targeted drugs analysis at Salt River Mortuary in Cape Town. This permitted an assessment of commonly misused drugs in suspected unnatural and/or unexplained deaths, which was previously not feasible, given the backlogs of National toxicological analyses. Aim: To assess toxicological findings of a targeted LC-MS/MS drugs of misuse panel in suspected unnatural death cases in the west metropole of Cape Town, Western Cape. Methods: A retrospective, descriptive study was conducted on all cases for which specimens were submitted to the Forensic Toxicology Unit between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022 for a targeted drugs analysis of 31 analytes using LC-MS/MS. Blood alcohol and toxicology results from the National Forensic Chemistry Laboratory were also compared within the cohort. Results: The Forensic Toxicology Unit analysis was requested in 735 cases, with qualitative (n=723, 98.4%) and quantitative (n=108, 14.7%) analyses performed. Drugs were detected in 382 (52.8%) of the 723 cases analysed. The most frequently detected drugs were acetaminophen (24.8%), methamphetamine (17.6%), amphetamine (14.4%), methaqualone (13.8%) and THC-COOH (12.9%). Blood alcohol analysis was requested from the National Forensic Chemistry Laboratory in 541 cases (73.6%), and ethanol was detected (≥0.01 g/100mL) in 138 (25.6%) of these cases, with a mean positive BAC of 0.14 ± 0.02 g/100 mL (range: 0.01-0.54 g/100 mL). Conclusion: This study revealed that commonly misused drugs were frequently present in suspected unnatural and/or unexplained deaths admitted to Salt River Mortuary in Cape Town. However, given that only a portion of cases were submitted for analysis, and that the panel was limited in scope, it does not represent the full landscape of drug exposure in unnatural deaths. Nonetheless, this study represents the first comprehensive data on drugs (other than alcohol) in post-mortem toxicology casework in South Africa, using validated methodology
The factors that determine successful follow up of children diagnosed with incurable blindness using health information collected during their visits to the Red Cross Childrens Hospital
Get PDFBackground: Most children diagnosed with incurable blindness will need access to health, education, and social services, to support them during their potentially high number of disabled life years. The accuracy of key informants' contact information is therefore essential to ensure that proper follow up is carried out, so that the necessary services are available to them. We investigated the factors determining successful follow up of children diagnosed with incurable blindness during their visits to the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital (RXH) in Cape Town, using their health information. Methods: This was a quantitative cross-sectional study, using data from a cohort of blind children who were referred to a blind school from 2011 to 2020, a total of 178 children, from 0 years up to 12 years of age. Contact information was collected from the children's hospital files at the Red Cross Children's Hospital. Using the telephone numbers obtained, calls were made, and the results of the calls were recorded. For those calls that were responded to, an introduction of who the researcher is, was made, then the purpose and explanation for the call was provided and the respondent was informed that participation is voluntary and that the interview can be stopped at any time should the respondent wish to do so. After that, consent to proceed with an interview was requested, and after it was granted, the researcher explained to the respondent that a few questions about the child's whereabouts, and basic information about health, education and social activities will be asked. A second round of calls were made, using an identifiable cell phone number. This was to ensure that for all the parents or guardians with whom contact was made but were not reachable for any reason during the initial round, a second attempt was made to reach them. Lastly, the nurse of the blind school was interviewed to triangulate the results of the telephonic interviews. The interview with the nurse was to confirm, whether the children on the data list were registered with the school as well as to ascertain the support services that 2 are on offer at the school for the blind. Results: The findings of the study indicated that of the total of 178 participants' folders checked, 127 (71%) folders did contain real and contactable telephone numbers, 10 (6%) folders had incorrectly recorded contact numbers, and 41 (23%) folders had no contact numbers as they were missing. Of the 127 folders with contactable numbers, only 29 (23%) of the key informants responded. Of these, 25 out of 29 (86%) confirmed that the children were alive with 4 (16%) mortalities reported. With regards to information on various support services offered, 7 out of 25 (24%) confirmed to have access to health services, which included hospital visits on scheduled appointment dates, with 16 (64%) receiving support for social services such as grants for relief on financial burden and 15 (60%) of the children are in receipt of education support services or attending special schools. Conclusion: As evidenced by the low response rate, contact with most of the parents was not achieved, resulting in less data to inform us of successful follow of the children. This lack of success can be attributed to the high inaccuracy in the capturing of the contact details, in the missing contact numbers as well as calls for some contacts which were no longer in-service. While little can be done with numbers being out of service, the incorrectly captured information coupled with lack of contact numbers requires that further scrutiny is applied to the patient folders when recording their information and that regular checks and updates are done to ensure that contact numbers are available and that they are accurate
Innovative financing of public infrastructure in Zambia: instruments and critical success factors
Get PDFThis dissertation investigates innovative financing mechanisms for financing public infrastructure in Zambia, juxtaposing current practices with their future potential. It aims to identify the key success factors that enhance the effectiveness of these innovative financial instruments. The research underscores the critical role of private sector participation in leveraging public resources for infrastructure financing in Zambia. The study employed a qualitative research approach by focusing on the perspectives and experiences of key stakeholders involved in public infrastructure financing. A multiple-case study design, encompassing diverse sectors and institutions, is utilised to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. The findings identify several potential innovative finance instruments suitable for the Zambian context, including debt instruments, risk management instruments, equity-based and partnership financing, and integrated and hybrid instruments. Additionally, the dissertation explores a broad spectrum of key success factors essential for the effective implementation of these innovative financial instruments. These factors include the availability of private capital, the necessity for investment-grade credit ratings, local currency financing, the bankability of projects, stable economic conditions, pension sector growth, financial incentives, proper deal structuring, and effective collaboration between the public and private sectors. The study concludes with recommendations for enhancing innovative financing mechanisms tailored to Zambia's specific context. It advocates for strategic policy changes to attract and sustain private sector investment, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities within Zambia's public infrastructure sector. This research aims to provide valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, contributing to the broader discourse on development finance and sustainable infrastructure development in developing and emerging economies