How many people have worms in South Africa?

How many people have worms in South Africa?

Oct 22, 2015

South Africa is the only country that has not yet found out how much soil transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis there is. However this is about to change. The Centre for Disease Control, Mrs Takalani Nemungadi, will lead the work to map South Africa and the WHO is committed to contribute to the exercise which will take place before March 2016. Urine and faeces will be collected in Grade 5 pupils in South Africa’s 52 districts to look for water-transmitted worms: Bilharzia (Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma mansoni), and soil-transmitted worms: Hookworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Trichuris trichiura. Each district will be divided into 2-4 ecological zones and in each of these zones 3-5 schools will be randomly selected for testing. Mrs Takalani Nemungadi, Department of Health deep in concentration with Professor Trevor Mulaudzi, University of Limpopo, at a preparatory meeting in Pretoria today. The Department of Education has already committed to treating the soil transmitted worms in the entire country, you can read more here. Do prepare your school for mapping and for...
Ambassador brainstorm

Ambassador brainstorm

Oct 21, 2015

The Norwegian Ambassador to South Africa, Ms Trine Skymoen met with BRIGHT’s Dr Eyrun Kjetland and the consequences of Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS, Bilharzia) for millions of African women was discussed together with the Minister Counsellor Ola Brevik and Second Secretary Øyvind F. Vangberg. The women at risk are those who have once in their lifetime or more, been in contact with waterbodies such as rivers, streams, lakes or dams. The research done by BRIGHT is unique, not only in South Africa but in the world and will uncover aspects of the FGS that will be useful the whole of rural Africa. The Norwegian Embassy in South Africa is not mandated to work with health issues but the participants at the meeting brainstormed possibilities for advocacy, sharing knowledge and resources. Being based in middle income South Africa the project falls outside the scope of many donors even though the disease in question is a typical third world disease. Norwegians, Dutch, Danish and Belgian students have learned to become international, competent researchers through the project. Moreover, the project has trained many South Africans and is currently workplace to 20-30 highly skilled South...
PhD in the pipeline

PhD in the pipeline

Sep 7, 2015

Medical doctor Elisabeth Kleppa has completed her field work, published 3 articles as a first author and co-authored some more. She will defend her thesis on December 14th 2015 at the University of Oslo. The title of her thesis is: HIV SUSCEPTIBILITY RELATED TO HIV TARGET CELLS AND CERVICAL ECTOPY, A STUDY OF YOUNG SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN LIVING IN A RURAL AREA ENDEMIC OF UROGENITAL...
Student in exchange to Norway

Student in exchange to Norway

Aug 8, 2015

Anele Kwitshana (back row, 4th position from the right) spent the summer in Oslo, Norway studying gender equality in the Nordic countries. Anele Kwitshana holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Human Resource Management & Media and in Oslo she got the opportunity to work with FGS research through the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange...
Dedicated – Sipho Zulu

Dedicated – Sipho Zulu

Jul 5, 2015

Mr Sipho Zulu has been appointed as a lecturer in the School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, he says he did not envisage that he would one day become an academic.