Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
by Amy on Apr 15th, 2013
From the author of Asbestos Blues comes a work on the history of gold mining and tuberculosis in South Africa:
This book reveals how the South African mining industry, abetted by a minority state, hid a pandemic of silicosis for almost a century and allowed workers infected with tuberculosis to spread the potentially fatal disease to rural communities in South Africa.
- Why did South African mines become renowned for mine safety, while the mounting rate of silicosis in black migrant workers lay hidden for over a century?
- How complicit were regulating officers in the operation of the gold mines’ apartheid health and safety policies?
- Why and how was tuberculosis among black migrant miners not disclosed, perpetuating a cycle of disease (and death) and allowing the infection to spread to neighbouring states? The first crisis of 1896–1912 focused on the minority white workers and resulted in industry investing heavily on reducing dust levels. The second began in 2000 with mounting scientific evidence that the disease rate among black migrant miners is more than a hundred times higher than officially acknowledged. This has resulted in class actions against operating companies.
About the author
Jock McCulloch is Professor of History at RMIT University and author of Asbestos Blues.
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by Amy on Apr 3rd, 2013
Howard Phillips, author of Plague, Pox and Pandemics: A Jacana Pocket History of Epidemics in South Africa, taught a UCT Summer School course on “Epidemics in South African History”.
The series of lectures looked at the causation and consequences of “five of the worst epidemics to strike South Africa over the last three hundred years: smallpox, the plague, Spanish influenza, polio and HIV/AIDS”.
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by Amy on Dec 12th, 2012
Professor Howard Phillips, author of Plague, Pox and Pandemics: A Jacana Pocket History of Epidemics in South Africa, will be teaching a course titled “Epidemics in South African History” as part of the University of Cape Town’s Summer School programme.
The course will look at the causes and consequences of the five worst epidemics in South Africa dating back 300 years, from the smallpox epidemic in 1713 to HIV/Aids. It will be held from Monday 28 January to Friday 1 February at The Centre for Open Learning and will cost R350. UCT staff members pay R175 and students can attend for the reduced rate of R88.
Event Details
- Date: Monday, 28 January to Friday 1 January 2013
- Time: Starts 9:15 AM
- Venue: The Centre for Open Learning,
Kramer Building,
Cross Campus Road,
Middle Campus,
UCT | Map
- Cover charge: R350 (UCT staff pay R175, students R88)
- Register: Download the registration form as a PDF or Word document
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by Amy on Aug 31st, 2012
The launch of (Un)covering Men: Rewriting Masculinity and Health in South Africa co-edited by Melissa Meyer and Helen Struthers was a well-attended event at the 6 Spin Street Restaurant.
The book is an outcome of the HIV&Aids Media Project, with resulted from ongoing collaboration between the Anova Health Institute, Wits Journalism, Johns Hopkins, USAID and PEPFAR.
Meyer and Struthers were joined by Willemien Brümmer and Pieter van Zyl, two fellows of the programme who shared their remarkable experiences whilst undertaking their research.
Meyer, co-ordinator of the HIV&Aids Media Project, commenced the evening’s discussion. She said the primary goal had been to look beyond the “tired, one-dimension images of men typically seen in the press” and to uncover a more layered, meaningful and nuanced understanding of men’s experience.
The contributors to (Un)Covering Men have attempted in their essays to write “differently” about men. She said this had brought very interesting results to the fore. “The conversation that opens up when one writes differently – and about different types of men – results in a reconsideration of the tired stereotypes of men as Lotharias, risk-seekers, domineering and insensitive, and how that informs their health-seeking behaviour,” she said.
“We’ve put that notion in the context of the most pressing health concern in the country, which is also the health concern most directly linked to manhood and sexuality, HIV,” said Meyer. “Against the backdrop of the current media coverage of men, using thorough analysis of the media’s engagement with and representation of notions of masculinity, we have concluded that this is either non-existent or rather shallow.”
Meyer said that the book’s primary aim was to challenge conventional and unhealthy images of men and to put forward notions of masculinity that promote insight and empathy for the various roles men play in love, family, culture and society as a whole.
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Liesl Jobson tweeted from the launch using #livebooks:
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by Amy on Aug 23rd, 2012
Jacana Media, in association with the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project, an initiative of the Wits Journalism Programme and the Anova Health Institute, are pleased to invite you to launches for (Un)covering Men: Rewriting Masculinity and Health in South Africa edited by Melissa Meyer and Helen Struthers in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The book will be launched at 6 Spin Street Restaurant in Cape Town on 29 August and at IT Corner in Johannesburg on 30 August.
See you there!
Event Details: Cape Town
Event Details: Johannesburg
- Date: Thursday, 30 August 2012
- Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
- Venue: IT Corner
Corner 4th Avenue and 7th Street
Melville
Johannesburg | Map
- RSVP: rsvp@jacana.co.za, 011 628 3200
Book Details
- (Un)covering Men: Rewriting Masculinity and Health in South Africa edited by Melissa Meyer and Helen Struthers
EAN: 9781920196585
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by Amy on Aug 22nd, 2012
Between 2009 and 2011, journalism fellows of the HIV & AIDS Media Project undertook in-depth research looking to write about men, masculinity, and HIV in a new way, and the result is this compendium of articles, blogs, and photo essays.
(Un)covering Men: Rewriting Masculinity and Health in South Africa showcases a diversity of men, each facing a unique context and dealing with sexual health and relationships differently. The book is structured around four central themes – men as lovers, men as partners and fathers, men who have sex with men, and men’s relationship to traditional and medical male circumcision – and brings men’s varied roles in the HIV epidemic to the fore.
About the editors
Melissa Meyer is the coordinator of the HIV & AIDS Media Project and the co-author of The Politics of AIDS Denialism: South Africa’s Failure to Respond.
Helen Struthers is a director and cofounder of the Anova Health Institute. She is a former program director for a large multidisciplinary research program funded by the United States Agency for International Development and a former member of the executive management team at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit.
Book details
- (Un)covering Men: Rewriting Masculinity and Health in South Africa edited by Melissa Meyer and Helen Struthers
EAN: 9781920196585
Find this book with BOOK Finder!
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by Amy on Aug 3rd, 2012
The launch of Plague, Pox and Pandemics: A Jacana Pocket History of Epidemics in South Africa by Howard Phillips was appropriately held at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town. A lively crowd, including Phillips’ family and students, gathered in the Wolfson Pavilion to celebrate the publication of this new edition to the Jacana Pocket History series.
Jacana’s Russell Martin started the evening off with a quick introduction to the series and mentioned that he and Phillips regularly go for walks which include somewhat more talking that actual walking. It was on one of these walks that the idea for the book came up. Martin then introduced guest speaker, Professor William Pick, who is the former President of the South African Medical Research Council and former Head of the School of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand.
Pick said that the book focuses on an interesting set of epidemics and he found it fascinating to read about how the victim-blaming for these illnesses has shifted over the years. “It’s interesting to look at the macro-political machinations that flow from epidemics” Pick said. “I want to compliment Howard because the sheer scale of the epidemics is graspable because of the figures he has included…and I want to thank him for giving me a better perspective on epidemics. The book provides an extraordinary view on epidemics and also enhances our understanding of human society.”
Phillips started his speech joking that this would be a litmus test for the saying ‘Speak loudly and people will hear, speak softly and they will listen’ as he had lost his voice. He thanked Pick and the audience for their support, saying that research and writing are lonely activities and it’s satifying to be able to finally share the book with others.
Phillips noted that he wasn’t totally sold on the concept for his book cover but joked that the Jacana logo was perhaps a subtle reference to avian flu. Despite their differences regarding the cover he said that there was practically no disagreement between him and Martin about the text and thanked him for his professionalism and personal encouragment. He also thanked his colleagues at UCT and expressed his deep gratitude to his family for supporting him and giving up ‘family time’ with him.
Two years after he started working at UCT, where he is a professor in the Department of Historical Studies, he stumbled across information on the Spanish Flu epidemic which was the topic of his first book, The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919: New Perspectives, and now, two years before his official retirement, he has published Plague, Pox and Pandemics. His conclusion: “Epidemics quite neatly bookend my career!”
“The interaction of humans, the environment and microbes over time is what makes history,” said Phillips, elaborating on the misconception that it is humans alone who influence history. Epidemics highlight the daily functioning and mis-functioning of society, but it wasn’t until the late 1980s that historians started paying attention to these epidemics. “Maybe this little book will play some small part in bringing attention to these epidemics. Maybe, just maybe, it will then deserve this attention-seeking cover,” Phillips concluded.
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by Amy on Jul 10th, 2012
Jacana Media is delighted to invite you to the launch of Plague, Pox and Pandemics by Howard Phillips. Join Phillips as he provides a first look into the history of epidemics in South Africa, probing lethal episodes which significantly shaped South African society over three centuries.
The launch will be held in the Wolfson Pavilion at the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine on Thursday 2 August at 5:30 for 6 PM.
See you there!
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by Amy on Jun 15th, 2012
Plague, Pox and Pandemics is the first history of epidemics in South Africa – lethal episodes that significantly shaped this society over three centuries. Focusing on five devastating diseases between the 1700s and today – smallpox, bubonic plague, Spanish flu, polio and HIV/AIDS – the book probes their origin, their catastrophic course and their consequences in both the short and long term.
As each of these epidemics occurred at crucial moments in the country’s history – early in European colonisation, in the midst the mineral revolution, during the South African War and World War I, as industrialisation got under way, and within the eras of apartheid and post-apartheid – Howard Phillips also examines how these processes affected and were affected by the five epidemics. South African history should not look the same to readers after they have finished this book.
About the author
Howard Phillips is a professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town, where he pioneered research in and the teaching of the social history of medicine and disease.
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by Amy on Mar 7th, 2011
Nadine Raal’s wrenching experience with her infant son’s congenital heart defects and subsequent surgery is detailed in her new book, Mending a Broken Heart – which was launched, appropriately, at the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Unit at Sunninghill Hospital, Johannesburg. It’s the only one of its kind in Africa, and it’s where Raal’s son Zack’s life was saved.
The author told us the unit was a “national treasure”. Trough her writing, she hoped to raise awareness of the brilliant work that is tirelessly and passionately performed by the doctors and nurses who staff the centre. She said that 95% of congenital heart defects are in fact operable and curable and that hope always lives on in the unit. “My son’s railroad scar down the centre of his chest is now his badge of honour and healing.”
Lynda Bleazard, CEO of the foundation that supports the unit, said that Raal’s book was testament to the bravery and willpower of the children who are operated on. She applauded the strength of Raal and her husband in the face of major uncertainty and fear. Bleazard said that the foundation has raised R40 million to date, and continues to serve children whose parents cannot afford the R165 000 operation that, barring complications, can save their lives.
Highveld Stereo presenter Sam Cowen, guest speaker at the launch and ambassador of the WSPCF, said Raal’s book would help all parents with very ill children to feel less alone. She said that the unit was the “closest thing to God there is.”
The audience included parents whose children had not made it through the operation. There wasn’t a dry eye in the unit as Nadine read excerpts from her book.
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