Sounding the alarm on the eye in healthy people living with HIV

South Africa is home to more than 7 million people living with HIV, most of whom share an immunity comparable to people without HIV. This improved lifespan is primarily due to antiretroviral therapy, which allowed for the elimination of HIV-related retinal inflammations that immunocompromised sufferers were susceptible to. The question raised now is if people living with HIV share the vision...
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Pre-existing high prevalence of obesity in young South African women with HIV in the new Dolutegravir era

Young South African women are not only more likely to be affected by the HIV epidemic than their male counterparts, but also are more prone to obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS), which places them at a higher risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Baseline analyses of CVD risk factors are presented from the ongoing Integration of Cardiovascular Disease Screening and...
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Implementing MMC in KwaZulu-Natal

Since the introduction of Medical Male Circumcision (MMC) to decrease the rate of HIV infections, health care workers have been at the forefront of implementing the service in line with the prescribed guidelines and protocols. From a health service implementation perspective, health care workers’ (i.e. health service providers and policy makers) are responsible for clinical aspects related...
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UKZN Discipline of Physiotherapy present a webinar on Long COVID

Two DRILL post-doctoral fellows, Professor Verusia Chetty and Professor Saul Cobbing, and three of their colleagues in the UKZN Discipline of Physiotherapy presented a webinar on Long COVID. The webinar was hosted by the African Forum for Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth) and attracted 95 attendees from Africa, Europe and North America. The webinar explored the increasing prevalence...
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Continuing to advocate for body donation awareness

Advocating for and promoting body donation programmes remain the responsibility of academic medical institutions, specifically anatomy departments. In general, the number of cadavers available for teaching, learning, and research is insufficient to cater to increasing numbers of medical and health science students’ training and research needs. UKZN has shifted its focus from the use of unclaimed...
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Strengthening Qualitative Research Skills – NVivo Workshop hosted by Dr. Velisha Perumal-Pillay

In 2020, education and training initiatives were disrupted due to the lockdown imposed by precautionary Government lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As teaching and learning shifted rapidly to online delivery, Dr Perumal-Pillay embraced the opportunity to host a workshop on NVivo software for qualitative research as virtual training. Dr Perumal-Pillay hosted Ms Yolandie Kriel (Wits Health...
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DRILL CELEBRATES MILESTONES

The world has been a challenging place since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has created many difficulties for everyone in all facets of our professional and personal lives. While we are all experiencing these challenges and hardships in these exceptional times, it makes it even more important for us to seek out the positive, and to celebrate where we can, the many successes and...
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Six Lessons for COVID-19 Rehabilitation from HIV Rehabilitation

Saul Cobbing, together with DRILL co-fellow, Professor Verusia Chetty, has collaborated with a number of international experts in HIV rehabilitation to describe six lessons that can be applied from their field to the growing field of COVID-19 rehabilitation. This information was published recently in the high-impact journal, Physical Therapy Like HIV, COVID-19 is a viral infection with currently...
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The myth about 5G network during COVID-19 pandemic

Globally, the conspiracy theory that 5G technology can spread COVID-19 could have a significant effect on tackling the spread of the pandemic. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the impact of the myth about the 5G technology on the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan African (SSA). A cross sectional survey of 2032 respondents was conducted from April 18 to  May 16, 2020, a few weeks following...
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The missing piece between audiologists and parents of deaf children

Researchers at UKZN have discovered that audiologists, parents and experts can all contribute to a comfortable decision-making process following the diagnosis of hearing loss. This allows audiologists to be relevant, and parents clear about making informed intervention decisions. Counselling following the confirmation of a hearing loss can reduce delays and frustrations during the...
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Reflections on my journey into the field of Health Professions Education

For some, academia is a choice, a lifelong pursuit. For others, it happens almost organically. I fall into the latter group, having first been introduced to the training of health professionals during my work within the development sector some 15 years ago. Prior to joining the academic sector, I was also involved in the establishment of new optometry schools, developing curricula for new...
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Developing a policy brief: Physical activity and health for children and adolescents in Africa: COVID-19 and beyond

COVID-19 has challenged us globally in so many ways. It has impacted our health and our economy; affected how we communicate and gather; mourn and celebrate and of course, travel. It has “clipped our wings” and exposed our vulnerabilities.  But, it has also highlighted the importance of physical activity and exercise, for our overall health and wellbeing, and for the wellbeing and social...
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