A religious settlement in KwaMaphumulo has been accused of urging followers to abandon antiretroviral treatment and other modern medicine, leave school and jobs, and rely instead on faith healing.

The allegations have garnered backlash from the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health, Nomagugu Simelane.

“If it is true that any person is encouraging followers to stop their ARVs, that behaviour is dangerous and cannot be tolerated. It is, in effect, a way of killing people slowly,” Simelane said.

Such actions amounted to “nothing less than genocide against people living with HIV,” she said.

The allegations were first reported on by the Sunday Tribune and SABC last week.

The Tribune reported that about 100 followers at iKhaya Labafundi in Dabangu had left careers, studies and, in some cases, medical treatment to pursue a faith-led life.

The SABC reported that more than 50 people had joined the group and that members said they did not use clinics or hospitals because it went against their beliefs.

Both media houses also carried accounts from members who said they had stopped taking HIV medication after joining the group.

The Tribune reported that one woman said she stopped ARV treatment in 2024, while SABC News quoted another member as saying she had stopped taking chronic HIV medication after “a spiritual conviction”.

The Tribune also reported concerns from nearby residents over school-age children seen at the settlement instead of in class. congregation.

The reports identified the founder as Vusumuzi Sibiya, who described the settlement as a place for people “separated unto God” and said it sustained itself through farming. He rejected descriptions of the movement as a cult and said people had joined voluntarily.

Responding during the department’s Easter Weekend Church Wellness Outreach Programme at the UCCSA in uMzinyathi, eThekwini, Simelane said the provincial government was not seeking to interfere in matters of faith, but could not ignore reports that people may be abandoning life-saving treatment.

“[W]e have a duty to act when faced with allegations that people are being misled in ways that could cost lives,” she said.

Simelane said the allegations remained unproven in a legal sense, but warned that the conduct described in the reports would be catastrophic if true.

She said the province could not afford to return to the worst years of the epidemic.

“We all remember what HIV did to our communities before the arrival of ARVs, the funerals, the orphans, the wasting away. We will not take our people back to that dark time,” Simelane said.

“Stopping ARV treatment has serious consequences. It leads to viral rebound, deterioration of health, potential death, and increased risk of transmission to others. Spreading misinformation on this matter cannot be taken lightly.”

Simelane also appealed to churches to work with the health department rather than undercut public health messaging on HIV and AIDS.

“Pastors play a big role in our communities. They preach weekly to people who believe in them. If their message on HIV and AIDS is dwindling, that is dangerous. We are willing to train and equip pastors so that they can become our ambassadors in combating HIV and AIDS. The Bible says my people perish because of a lack of knowledge,” she said.

She called for sanctions if the allegations are proved. “Anyone who misleads people by telling them to abandon ARVs must face the full might of the law. That is tantamount to causing harm,” Simelane said.

She told people living with HIV to remain on treatment. “Prayer, rest, and medical faithfulness save lives.”

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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has called for urgent empowerment of social workers, health workers, and caregivers to report cases of statutory rape, as alarming new statistics reveal that tens of thousands of school-age girls in the province fell pregnant in 2024. 

DA Gauteng leader and official opposition leader Solly Msimanga said the figures underscored a growing crisis of child sexual abuse and statutory rape that is being ignored by authorities and too often normalised in communities. 

“Statutory rape is a serious violation, and men who commit such a crime inflict lasting harm on a vulnerable individual. The failure by law enforcement agencies to take action against men who commit this offense is deeply troubling, as it compromises the principles of consent and respect, leaving young girls vulnerable to predatory individuals who have lost all sense of morality,” Msimanga said. 

According to data disclosed by Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in the provincial legislature, 23,691 pregnancies were recorded among girls between the ages of 10 and 19, last year. 

Of these, 18,851 resulted in deliveries at public health facilities, while 4,840 were terminated. Disturbingly, 521 of these pregnancies involved girls between the ages of 10 and 14.

While pregnancies among learners are rising, police reports of child rape and statutory rape are falling.

Gauteng’s Clinical Forensic Medical Services and Thuthuzela Care Centres recorded 474 cases reported to the South African Police Service in 2022/23, 257 cases in 2023/24, and just 242 between April and December 2024. 

Msimanga said the discrepancy pointed to a breakdown in enforcement of Section 110 of the Children’s Act of 2005, which obliges teachers, healthcare workers, social workers, and caregivers to report suspicions or evidence of child sexual abuse. 

“The failure to act enables predators to continue abusing children, while families are sometimes bribed into silence. This not only protects perpetrators but entrenches a culture of impunity,” he said. 

The Gauteng Health Department’s statistics highlight that the problem cuts across the province. 

Johannesburg recorded 7,245 cases of teenage pregnancy, followed closely by Ekurhuleni with 6,893, and Tshwane with 5,752. The West Rand and Sedibeng recorded 2,014 and 1,787 respectively.

The DA has requested further data on which schools reported the highest numbers of learner pregnancies and how many girls who gave birth managed to return to school. 

However, Inside Education reached out to the Gauteng Education Department who admitted it does not keep such records. 

Msimanga cautioned that poverty and inequality fuel the problem, with transactional sex between older men and vulnerable girls increasingly common. 

In some cases, families accept money or goods in exchange for silence.

The DA is demanding that the provincial departments of Education, Health, Social Development, and Community Safety collaborate more effectively to equip and empower social workers, health professionals, and caregivers to report statutory rape to SAPS; ensure all reported cases are promptly investigated and prosecuted; provide education to girls that reinforces their right to refuse unwanted sexual advances, even from adults in positions of authority; and strengthen partnerships with parents and community leaders to create safe environments for children. 

Msimanga added that the DA will also push for answers on the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and HIV among the affected age group. 

The DA’s Gauteng intervention is part of a broader national probe into the child pregnancy crisis.

DA Social Development spokesperson Alexandra Abrahams recently revealed that in the Eastern Cape, 117 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 gave birth between April and July 2025, while 4,752 teenagers aged 15 to 19 delivered babies during the same period.

“These figures are only the tip of the iceberg. Pregnancies that end in termination or miscarriage, or those that go unreported, make the true scale far greater,” Abrahams said.

The DA cited the reported drugging and sexual assault of learners from Khomani Primary School in Diepkloof earlier this year as proof that some incidents occur beyond the direct oversight of teachers and parents. 

Msimanga said a DA-led administration would ensure that professionals are trained to enforce the Children’s Act, statutory rape cases are properly investigated and prosecuted, and schools are staffed only with vetted teachers and officials.

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The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has called on parents and guardians to support its latest single-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, aimed at protecting young girls from cervical cancer.

The campaign runs from 8 September to 7 November 2025 and is being rolled out at schools across the province. Eligible learners include girls aged 9 to 15 in Grade 5, as well as Grade 6 and 7 pupils who missed their vaccinations in previous years.

Provincial health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba assured parents that the HPV vaccine is both safe and effective. 

“This life-saving initiative highlights the importance of immunising girls before the age of 15, as early protection significantly reduces the risk of developing cervical cancer later in life,” he said.

He added that the vaccine being administered is proven to protect against HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for more than 70% of cervical cancer cases.

“Consent forms are required for participation in the HPV vaccination campaign. Learners aged 12 and older may self-assent,” Modiba explained.

He added: “Vaccinations will be conducted at private primary schools, combined private schools, outstanding public primary schools, and special schools across Gauteng. Grade 5 boys and girls will also receive a booster dose of the Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Acellular Pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.”

The HPV campaign forms part of the Integrated School Health Programme (ISHP), which also provides health screenings for vision, hearing, oral health, nutrition, as well as deworming and other onsite services.

According to the Department of Health, “one shot of the HPV vaccine gives girls lifelong protection against cervical cancer-causing viruses”.

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University of Cape Town is leading the charge in healthcare innovation in the Global South with its game-changing clinical support tool known as the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) programme.

The programme comprises clinical guidance, an implementation strategy, health systems strengthening and monitoring and evaluation components.

UCT spokesperson Velisile Bukula said that “with primary healthcare systems globally facing mounting challenges, such as increased co-morbidities, changing climate-driven disease patterns and infectious diseases outbreaks, PACK offers a critical lifeline”.

PACK, which was developed by UCT’s Knowledge Translation Unit has achieved widespread adoption in South Africa as primary adult care and in Ethiopia’s Primary Healthcare Clinical Guidelines. It is now being implemented in Brazil and Indonesia. 

“Through PACK, UCT continues to demonstrate leadership in healthcare innovation, improving patient outcomes and empowering primary healthcare workers across the Global South,” Bukula said in a statement on Monday.

Recent publications in BMJ Global Health journal feature PACK’s pivotal role in fostering sustainable, high-quality primary care across varied contexts, showcasing successful implementation experiences, including in:

• Chronic Respiratory Disease Management in Brazil;

• National Scale-Up in Ethiopia;

• Infectious Diseases Outbreak Response in Brazil and;

• Care for Multiple Long-Term Conditions.

“Initiatives like PACK exemplify UCT’s vision 2030 goal to ‘unleash human potential to create a fair and just society’, by addressing critical healthcare needs across diverse communities,” said Bukula.

“PACK empowers health workers to provide equitable, high-quality care, bridging gaps in health care access across the Global South,” he added.

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Limpopo health MEC Dieketseng Mashego had led a health screening and testing initiative for learners at Thabina Primary School in Ga-Rakoma following a hike in bilharzia cases in the province.

The first outbreak recorded was from 142 learners at the Malwandla Primary School in Petanenge village.

Other cases were also reported in areas including Nkowankowa township, and Khujwana and Dan villages.

Wednesday’s visit comes after a rise in the number of confirmed cases to 155 in the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality.

Limpopo acting premier Basikopo Makamu confirmed that the government had already set up a task team to coordinate efforts to tackle the outbreak, provide medical care to affected individuals and prevent a further spread of the disease.

“We urge all residents in the affected areas to exercise extreme caution, avoid direct contact with potentially contaminated water sources and seek medical attention if symptoms arise,” Makamu said.

While addressing learners and community stakeholders at the school, the MEC also stressed the importance of health screenings, prevention and education. 

“We are working with the local water service authorities to conduct water quality tests as one way of preventing the disease because as much as screening, testing and treatment is important, it is even more important to work towards prevention,” Mashego said.

She added that the screening campaign would be extend to other villages and schools in the region to ensure learners received any necessary treatment.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has criticised the provincial government for being incompetent and negligent.

DA Limpopo health spokesperson Lindy Wilson said that the government’s intervention of forming a provincial task team was a little too late.

“This negligence by municipalities coupled by their failure to provide safe potable water has led to water systems that are badly polluted and a danger to communities,” Wilson said.

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Pit toilets at schools will be eradicated by the end of March next year, according to Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube.

While the department has made progress in eliminating pit toilets, there are still 259 across the country. Most of them are in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

Multiple cases of children drowning in pit latrines have been reported over the years. Responding to a question in Parliament on Wednesday, the minister said: “I will be the first to admit that it is simply not good enough and we cannot still have children who are drowning in pit toilets in 2024, 30 years into our democracy. So, this is why this matter is priority for me and the department.”

She further said: “We know that the existence of pit toilets in our schools is not only a danger to our learners, but also is an issue of dignity.”

When the government introduced the Sanitation Appropriate for Education Initiative in 2108, there were around 4000 pit toilets.

In July this year, the Public Servants Association (PSA) said improving school infrastructure need to be a priority.

“Developing school infrastructure and eliminating pit toilets are urgent concerns that pose serious risks to learners, educators and school support staff. Investing in school infrastructure will lead to improved national examination results, enhance productivity, and provide adequate safety for all concerned,” it said.

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A US funded grant of nearly $3 million from the National Institutes of Health to Wits and Vanderbilt
University will advance traditional health practitioner-initiated HIV testing.

The grant that sets the foundation for traditional healers to be trained to initiate HIV counselling,
testing, and linkage to care in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga builds on the success of a study called
Know Your Status.

The research for the study is located at the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions
Research Unit (Agincourt), a research unit in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga and runs under the
auspices of the Wits School of Public Health, in partnership with the Vanderbilt Institute for Global
Health (VIGH) in the US.

Dr Ryan Wagner, senior research fellow at Agincourt and co-principal investigator, with Carolyn
Audet, associate professor of health policy, and VIGH principal investigator, lead the study.

The study will compare rates of HIV testing in traditional healer trained HIV counselling and testing
communities versus control communities in a cluster randomised controlled trial in 42 clinical
catchment areas.

The traditional healer practitioners will advertise and offer free testing to their clients and clients’
partners, and take part in monthly local, community-based testing outreach activities at local events.
In addition to offering testing, the trained traditional healers will further support their clients who
test positive by accompanying them to the department of health (DoH) clinics for counselling and
antiretroviral therapy (ART), and ensure that their clients regularly take their ART.

While South Africa has made progress in reaching the United Nations’ 95-95-95 targets – (95% of
people living with HIV knowing their status, 95% of people receiving care after diagnosis, and 95% of
people achieving viral load suppression while being treated) – people of low socio-economic status,
males and those in rural areas do not test regularly.

But these groups are more likely to seek care from traditional healers making this sector ideal
practitioners to enable diagnosis and aftercare, if required.

This expanded research project is a collaboration between Wits’ Agincourt, Vanderbilt, the South
African Department of Health (DoH), and Kukula, the local traditional health practitioners’
organisation.

It is part of Ntirhisano (meaning ‘working together’ in the local xiTsonga language), a larger portfolio
of work that explores ways of engaging traditional healers to strengthen the primary health care
system.

The study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness, incremental costs, and results of the intervention and
control sites, including clinical and economic outcomes, with the goal of providing evidence to the
DoH for longer term sustainability and uptake.

“The Know your Status is an extremely innovative and important study, which offers the possibility
of targeting HIV counselling, testing and ART to those who don’t regularly access clinics. Targeting,
testing, and treating via traditional health practitioners could ultimately lead to the end of new HIV
cases in communities such as rural Mpumalanga, which has some of the largest HIV burden
globally,” said Wagner.

Reflecting on the wider application of the work, Audet said, “If traditional healers can be trained to
conduct testing, informal community leaders in the U.S. can potentially join forces to reach those at
the highest risk of HIV acquisition. Barbers, religious leaders, and teachers are examples of trusted
members within communities.”

This research is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH135738), an Institute of the U.S.
National Institutes of Health. Vanderbilt University and Wits University are Strategic Partners. To learn more
about this study and the larger Ntirhisano portfolio of work, visit: www.wits.ac.za/ntirhisano.

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The top 10 teams from selected schools were invited to showcase, exhibit and present their winning robots at the SITA’s GovTech Conference 2023 at the ICC in Durban from 12 –13 September 2023. 

Earlier this year, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) held a SITA Robotics Challenge 2023 for piloting schools at the University of Mpumalanga, where the winning teams were announced. Four learners and one teacher represented each team at the event.

SITA’s GovTech Conference is an annual event and a platform for the public and private sectors to come together and share experiences, solutions, and ideas that can showcase the power of technology to promote better planning, improved service delivery, sustainable development, grow inclusive economies and ensure an immediate recognisable impact on the lives of citizens.

The following inventions were notable: 

• Wesbank Secondary School from the Western Cape designed a robot to assist those with hearing impairments; 
• Shree Bharat Sharda Mandir (SBSM) from Gauteng designed a  RoboStop, which is a solar-powered intelligent traffic light prototype; 
• Realogile Secondary School from Gauteng presented an automated tap sensor to reduce water wastage in the school environment; 
• Sibukosetfu Secondary School from Mpumalanga designed a robot that pumps water underground using a windmill and transfers moisture to a reservoir for easy access;
• Douglas Combined School from the Northern Cape showcased a prototype of an air-purifying robot that is meant to tackle global warming by cleansing and purifying air;
• Bredasdorp High School from the Western Cape demonstrated how their robot’s timer and sensor assist the elderly in taking their medication on time; 
• Ntulabakayise High School, in KwaZulu-Natal, presented a robot tractor which targets to refill and fix potholes to reduce road accidents; 
• Nkgopoleng High School, from Free State, designed Robot Nicole, which detects metal objects to reduce criminal activities in schools; 
• Cosmo City Secondary School, from Gauteng, showcased a Smart Automated School with a turnstile gate and biometric gate link to the South African School Administration Management System (SA-SAMS) to identify absent learners and teachers as well as to minimise the number of intruders in the school; and, 
• Ozias Davhana Secondary School from Limpopo designed a community assistant robot to assist the elderly and people with disabilities. The robot has built-in sensors to detect surroundings and avoid collisions.

Learners expressed gratitude to the DBE and SITA for the opportunity to showcase their projects to ICT trailblazers and potential investors, stating that the Conference remains a valuable platform to engage with ICT gurus and experience the latest technological advances.

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Leading TB expert and eminent research scientist Professor Kogie Naidoo has been elected as a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society in South Africa for her seminal research over three decades in TB-HIV co-infection and multidrug-resistant TB. 

Naidoo is among South Africa’s highly accomplished medical scientists playing a leading role in tuberculosis research, the leading cause of death in people living with HIV (PLWH) and has made significant contributions to the global understanding of TB-HIV treatment integration. 

The Royal Society of South Africa, a “learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics,” announced last week, following “rigorous consideration by the Society’s Adjudication Committee” and approval by the Council and current RSSAf Fellows. 

Naidoo, the Deputy Director and leads the HIV-TB treatment programme at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of South Africa (CAPRISA), said she was “honoured and deeply humbled by the recognition.” 

“My passion is to save lives through medical research and change the lives of vulnerable, marginalised populations most affected by tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and HIV.”

Born in Durban, she obtained her MBChB and PhD at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she is an honorary associate Professor in the College of Health Sciences and was among the first to implement public antiretroviral therapy (ART) services for people living with HIV over 25 years ago. 

Her research with her colleagues showed that starting antiretroviral treatment (ART) simultaneously with tuberculosis treatment resulted in a 56% lower death rate, saving the lives of patients with HIV-TB co-infection. This work led to the WHO advising that co-treatment would now be the standard of care for people with HIV and TB.

“Her research has shaped the development of international clinical guidelines and algorithms used in managing TB-HIV co-infection,” said Professor Salim Abdool Karim, Director of CAPRISA. 

“She leads several CAPRISA studies across multiple research sites to optimise innovative treatment strategies to reduce deaths in patients further co-infected with TB-HIV and HIV patients with drug-resistant TB.”

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I AM an author, poet and essayist. I am also a blogger, novelist and screenwriter. I have written over twenty books. I am forty-four years of age.

The reason I am writing this is to help someone in the same situation where I found myself twenty-eight years ago so they can benefit from my own funny, unique, sometimes hurtful, painful, uncomfortable and even humiliating personal experience.

I am writing this to answer the questions I had about myself, the discovery that my depression was not clinical depression but that it was manic depression, the onset of my mood swing and Christianity in my own life. If North America can be described as the “Prozac nation” by the North American author Elizabeth Wurtzel and the USA coined the terms “hype” and “spin”, then why is mental health such low on the list of priorities of the people we voted into power when it affects everyone around us directly or indirectly, in a significant manner or otherwise?

It is a psychiatric illness also known as a bipolar mood disorder or mood swings. I have lived with this debilitating, mysterious and deadly disease my whole life. I have struggled to overcome the stigma attached to this disease by people who are intimidated by anything they do not have any control over.

This is my story. Sometimes I imagine that I am standing on a stage giving a seminar when I say those words.

I am just like you. Nothing is extraordinary about my life except how I choose to live it. Some people have to have physical proof that something is amiss with their bodies. We put so much of our faith into the hands of healers. Faith is a supernatural force of will. Time, God, homoeopathy, holistic repatterning, reflexology, full body massage, tea, herbal infusions, therapists, psychiatrists and doctors are all healers. We don’t have time to visualise and reflect on what our bodies are trying to tell us why we are hurting.

The illness was there for a long time. Now when I look back, the truth about it is undeniable. It can be cured or, at best, prevented from recurring to the best of the patient, the doctor and the pharmacist’s ability.

I don’t believe in labels like gifted, talented, creative genius or eccentric.

It is such an acceptable illness that influences subtle nuances in an individual’s behaviour that it takes a cluster of specific symptoms to diagnose it. It takes charge of your brain’s serotonin and dopamine levels. The feel-good hormones in your brain are when your slow descent into a personal and very private hell begins (your secret pain).

I was raised in a liberal-minded household by parents who believed that love, happiness and peacefulness were greater aspirations than prestige, position and status. I am part of only a lucky few. I was taught not to bear grudges. I was told that when someone hurt my feelings, to ignore them and see them for who they were. I was introduced to being forgiving and understanding and that there wasn’t any difference between the rich and the poor children at my schools. I was taught that the noblest profession in the world was being a teacher and reinforcing values and excellence, as well as enriching wonderfully young lives filled with so much hope and promise.

My parents taught me by example. My father is a community leader, and my mother is a teacher.

The word stigma is a synonym for phobia or fear (for a better word). People choose to see the very best in someone, and their judgement is clouded when they ignore the rest. Acceptance is something that comes at a very high price. The denial of human dignity comes at a significant cost with unforeseeable circumstances.

The signs and symptoms of a hypomanic episode are as follows. You behave wild and free, have depressive slumps, and spiralling depression. You don’t sleep. You don’t nap. You are the focus and become the centre of the universe. You are beautiful, intelligent, and determined, but the reflection everybody else sees is militant, horribly annoying.

You feel humiliated in later introspection, while others feel uncomfortable in your presence. You were Dr Jekyll incognito and Mr Hyde in the flesh.

There is a genetic predisposition to depression and mania as well. My father’s side has had a history of mental illness, including alcoholism, depression and suicide. Depression is a devastating illness that affects millions of people worldwide. The more family values are on the decrease, the more suicide is on the increase.

People refer to their depression as sadness and stress. Mental health seems not to be a moot point for people in government.  To the world at large that is still suffering in silence, I say, break the silence and add a visible, outspoken voice. There are more of us out there than you realise. Keep on fighting. I did. I do every day, and as I take my first breath for the day, I thank God I am alive. It’s not brave when you’re not scared; sometimes, I have good days and bad days.

I had no idea I was sick for a long time. Later, in the beginning, stages, it defined who I was. My whole life revolved around hiding my disease. Sometimes it was easy to hide, and sometimes it wasn’t. It was cerebral. It was a catalyst. There was no scarring, no wound, no stitches and sutures required. I have changed. I have changed for the better only just these last few years. I am a more sociable person. I am kinder. My rough edges are softer. Perhaps it is a cliché, but it has become true. As the famous song goes, “We can find love if we search within ourselves”, but also, I believe, everywhere if we look hard enough.

People who have mental illness think they are a burden to society. Fact. The suicide rate amongst teenagers (the most vulnerable group) is growing. Fact. Social grants are also increasing due to a decrease in family values, growing up as orphans or having a single parent, poverty, unemployment, depression and stress. The list goes on. Rape, domestic violence, battered woman syndrome and the stigmatisation of mental illness are never-ending.

Fact. Some people continue to have blind faith in their medical aid or fund, that is, if they have one. Ignorance is like scar tissue, subterranean and lurking beneath the surface. Whoever said ignorance is bliss was duping her or himself. Unless a forum or a platform can be raised to break the silence and annihilate in one blow the stigma of mental illness and prejudice. Suffering in silence from depression and stress, families will break up, and kids will be caught in the crossfire of divorce. There is nothing more devastating in the world than a child who feels unloved and has no self-esteem.

Both Princess Diana and Mother Theresa said that the most significant disease today is the feeling of being unloved.

I felt bewildered when I read “The Girl in the Parisian Dress”, an article published in another famous women’s magazine on Ingrid Jonker, a celebrated South African poet. She was a genius that goes without saying, but also profoundly emotionally unstable because of her childhood and her past, and the one man whom she would never gain approval or love from – her father. You can’t colour happiness outside the edges of your life and imagine it’s a sea mist surrounding your body when inside, you’re backsliding and waning in gloom and doom. Everything around you is blacker than night. William Styron, an American writer, described depression as “darkness visible”, and that was the name of the book he wrote chronicling his depression as well. I think that no two words describe depression and stress better than “darkness visible”.

There is one thing that I have learned during the past eighteen years. The future is still in my power, even though the past cannot be changed. Mental illness is not a human stain. Currently, I am working on an anthology of my poetry, a collection of short stories, and I am beginning work on a novel co-authored with my father called “From hell to Eternity: A Memoir of Madness”. I have received grants from the National Arts Council which encouraged me to begin to write again. This time with both my survival and my experience in mind but to put together some of my earlier poetry in a collection entitled “Africa, Where Art Thou?”

Yes, my life has turned out rather unconventionally from who, what, and where I’d envisaged myself being, but not a day goes by now that I am not thankful. I do not question why I am here or my divine purpose. I am no longer driven by fear and uncertainties, and I behave self-consciously. Although there is still a sorrow here, I cannot reform, that yields stillness in quiet moments of reflection or contemplation; every event in my life composes furious life anew. Through all the infinite wisdom of my mistakes that came before, the love of my family remains. It is a reminder of what came before and what lies ahead in my future.

INSIDE EDUCATION

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FOETAL alcohol syndrome is a lifelong condition caused by exposing an unborn baby to alcohol. It’s a pattern of mental, physical and behavioural symptoms seen in some people whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy.

Not all prenatal alcohol exposure results in the syndrome; it is the most severe form of a range of effects called foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

South Africa has the highest reported rates of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders in the world: 111.1 per 1,000 population. The disorders may affect seven million people in the country. The number could be higher because of under-diagnosis.

Foetal alcohol syndrome can’t be reversed. But confirmed diagnosis can have benefits. It can lead to early intervention and therapy (physical, occupational, and speech, among others), and a better understanding from parents and teachers. Diagnosis can also ensure that adults are eligible for social services support.

Clinicians use a range of methods to diagnose foetal alcohol syndrome, including assessing abnormal growth and brain function. A key part of the process is looking at the individual’s facial features. Typical features are small eye openings, a thin upper lip, and a smooth area between the nose and upper lip.

But visual examination of the facial features can be subjective and often depends on the clinician’s experience and expertise. Another challenge arises in low-resource settings when there aren’t many doctors specially trained to do this.

A more objective and standard way to detect foetal alcohol syndrome early would therefore be useful.

One method that’s being used to aid diagnosis is three-dimensional (3D) surfaces produced by devices that scan the face. The technology is costly and complex. Two-dimensional (2D) images are easier to get – it can be done with a digital camera or smartphone – but are not accurate enough for diagnosis.

Our study sought to explore whether it was possible to use normal 2D face images to approximate 3D surfaces of the face. We showed that it was. Our method involved using 3D models that can change their shape based on a variety of real human faces, combined with 3D facial analysis technology.

We argue in our paper that our findings show the technology can improve early detection, intervention and treatment for people affected by foetal alcohol syndrome, particularly in low-resource settings.

We hope to contribute to the global effort to prevent and manage the lifelong consequences of the syndrome and disorders.

How it would work
We constructed a flexible 3D model that can alter its shape based on a variety of real human faces. The changes are guided by statistical patterns learned from a dataset of high-quality 3D scans from 98 individuals. This international open-source dataset was carefully curated to represent different demographic groups.

We didn’t have access to image data of individuals affected by foetal alcohol syndrome. We therefore used 2D and 3D images of individuals without this condition to develop and validate our approach. We nevertheless reasoned that our method should work equally well for any scenario where the model and the test subjects are closely matched.

We then set out to develop and validate a machine learning algorithm for predicting 3D faces of unseen subjects, from their 2D face images only, using our 3D model.

This was a pioneering step in our research, where we aimed to create a “smart” tool that could bring flat images to life in three dimensions. The results of the study were encouraging.

Our 3D-from-2D prediction algorithm performed well in three ways: capturing facial variations representing unique features summarising information of faces from 2D images.

Since we had actual 3D face scans to use for comparison, we were able to calculate the average difference between these scans and the face shapes predicted by our model. This allowed us to measure the error in our fitting, which we found to be in line with other studies.

We particularly focused on specific regions of the face: the eyes, midface, upper lip, and philtrum (the groove between the nose and the top lip). These regions provide crucial information for clinicians when examining the facial markers of foetal alcohol syndrome.We could accurately predict these facial regions, and concluded from this that our method could form the foundation of an image-based diagnostic tool for foetal alcohol syndrome.

Our study also showed that the quality of our predictions was independent of skin tone. This is a crucial finding. Certain 3D scanning technologies have been known to struggle with accurately capturing darker skin tones. This issue is being addressed. Nevertheless, our findings gave us confidence that there was additional potential for use of our approach in diverse populations.

Challenges
We did identify some limitations. Access to 3D data of individuals with foetal alcohol syndrome remains a challenge. Future research could focus on reducing reconstruction errors to acceptable clinical standards by collecting and analysing larger datasets, including data from underrepresented populations.

Mutsvangwa is Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cape Town. Egger is Professor for Cognitive Computer Vision, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Atuhaire is a Lecturer, Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

This article was first published in The Conversation.

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AFRICA’s plans to build capacity to respond to future pandemics received a significant boost as South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) received an investment worth $4 458 033.00 (around R80 million) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to drive skills and health innovation.

The investment, which seeks to strengthen Africa’s biomanufacturing capability through a workforce training and skills development programme, is a significant milestone that will reduce the continent’s dependence on imported critical health products.

“Skills development and the establishment of the necessary infrastructure in the field of biomanufacturing require urgent action to strengthen our capability to manufacture health products that are accessible and cost-effective locally. This will reduce the continent’s reliance on imported therapeutics and promote the development of tailored health products for the African population.

Therefore, this workforce development programme will have a significant catalytic role in stimulating local biomanufacturing by providing hands-on training and competency building,” says Dr Santosh Ramchuran, CSIR Research Group Leader: Bioprocess Technologies.

This grant will support local training and workforce development for the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients, biopharmaceuticals and vaccines on the African continent. The investment will also contribute to the modernisation of infrastructure and equipment that are key to building a robust local biomanufacturing capability.

“The grant from the Gates Foundation will allow for the expansion of the existing microbial production facility and the establishment of bench-scale production using mammalian cell-culture systems. This is a key focus area for us because, quite often, lead biopharmaceuticals discovered in Africa remain in the research and development phase and never reach commercial reality,” Ramchuran says.

“This work, which will support product development, is in keeping with the CSIR’s role in research translation and innovation – we provide knowledge, skills and infrastructure to drive industrial sustainability in the Biotech sector,” he added.

The initiative aims for black female candidates and applicants from other African countries to make up most of those who will benefit from the programme.

INSIDE EDUCATION

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What caused the WHO to issue these warnings?

Over the last five months the WHO has issued three alerts warning people not to use specific over-the-counter medicine for children. The warnings came after the deaths of at least 300 children in various countries including The Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan.

Medical product alerts were released in October 2022 for Africa, November 2022 for south-east Asia and for the European region in January 2023.

The WHO issues these warnings only when independent laboratory analysis has confirmed that the product is substandard or falsified and that it poses a significant threat to public health. The threat must also extend beyond one country.

The children died after consuming cough syrup contaminated with ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, leading to the WHO medical product alerts. Some of the children were as young as five. Cases were reported in at least seven countries.

What are ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol?

Ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol are toxic alcohols with a slightly sweet taste. They are widely used in windscreen wiper fluids and engine coolants.

These compounds are sometimes also found at very low levels as contaminants in many food ingredients and medical solvents (including propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, sorbitol and glycerin/glycerol). This happens when there are poor standards of manufacturing and testing.

Medical solvents are widely used to dissolve the ingredients of a medicine. Ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol contamination poisonings over the years have mainly been associated with solutions containing paracetamol.

Paracetamol in cough syrups is good and safe for children with infections. It is a pain killer which is good at reducing fever, without causing gastric irritation like aspirin or ibruprofen may do.

Are they dangerous?

Both ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol are seen as toxic. A fatal oral dose is about 1,000-1,500 milligrams per kilogram. For a small child weighing 20kg a fatal single dose would be about 28 millilitres or about 6 teaspoons of pure ethylene glycol. However it is also possible to cause toxicity by consuming much lower doses over several days and weeks. That is why the WHO safe level for these chemicals is only 0.5 milligrams per kilogram per day. That’s the equivalent of 1/15th of a teaspoon per day.

What makes these glycols potentially so dangerous is that toxicity comes from the consumption of relatively large amounts before symptoms of contamination appear.

The additional danger from cough syrups is that symptoms of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol contamination, such as drowsiness, are sometimes observed in children who have not taken contaminated medicine, and can be misinterpreted as normal in a child with a cough or fever. Guardians and medical professionals may not notice what’s wrong until it’s too late.

What’s the role of paracetamol?

To understand the potential role of paracetamol in these poisonings, we need to understand what happens to ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol in the body.

To be toxic, these glycols must be converted to a compound called glycoaldehyde, and then to glyoxylic acid. Glyoxylic acid can concentrate in and damage the kidneys – leading to death from renal failure.

The conversion is triggered by a certain concentration of a coenzyme called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). NAD+ is regulated by mitochondria – small structures in human cells which regulate many chemical reactions in the body.

In a recent study, we demonstrated that at the normal dose required to treat fever, paracetamol inhibits mitochondria. Thus it affects the level of NAD+ and, in turn, the conversion of glycols to toxins. Children taking paracetamol preparations contaminated with the glycols could potentially be in danger.

We believe that the combination of medicines containing paracetamol and glycols, even when the contamination is relatively low but above the WHO acceptable limit of 0.5 mg/kg of body weight per day, could be lethal.

Unlike other medications or food products which do not disrupt mitochondrial function, preparations containing standard levels of paracetamol are more likely to lead to adverse outcomes for children, because of the increased metabolism of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol.

Other medicines and foods contaminated with low levels of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol probably go unnoticed because they don’t contain paracetamol.

What must be done to prevent future deaths?

If spotted early enough, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol poisoning can be treated. The two most widely used antidotes for overdose are fomepizole and ethanol. Both reduce the amount of toxic ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol metabolite produced in the body.

Incidents of mass poisonings highlight the need for greater vigilance in monitoring preparations containing paracetamol.

Medications containing paracetamol are normally very safe for children. But to avoid deaths related to cough syrup in future, both parents and medical professionals should consider glycol poisoning as a possibility if children start to display symptoms of intoxication and drowsiness after taking the medicine.

These incidents generally happen in countries categorised as the global south. Manufacturers and regulatory authorities in these countries also have a responsibility to protect children.

THE CONVERSATION

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The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children and adolescents (5-17 years old) get an average of at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity. This should incorporate vigorous aerobic activities, as well as those that strengthen muscle and bone, at least three days a week.

It’s also recommended that children spend no more than two hours a day on recreational screen time. These recommendations aim to improve children’s physical and mental health, as well as cognitive outcomes.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, physical activity among children and adolescents was already below the recommended levels. In 2016, 81% of adolescents around the world aged 11-17 were considered physically inactive. Girls were less active than boys.

The pandemic has made matters worse. Physical inactivity in children and adolescents has become a global public health priority. It is now included in global action plans.

For example, using 2016 as baseline, the WHO through its Global Action Plan on Physical Activity targeted a 15 percentage point reduction in prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents by 2030. This call to action also implored other international organisations and governments to help track progress in physical activity promotion among children and adolescents.

In response to this global physical inactivity crisis, the international call to action, and the need to systematically collect comparable data, the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance recently published a major study, the first to provide a comprehensive assessment of physical activity among children and adolescents. Published in October 2022, the study included data that were collected before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were among the 682 experts who assessed 10 common physical activity indicators for children and adolescents around the world.

Our study shows physical activity among children and adolescents has not gotten better. About one-third of children and adolescents globally were sufficiently physically active while a little over one-third met the recreational screen time recommendation for better health and well being. These findings indicate that a significant proportion of children and adolescent who do not meet recommended physical activity guidelines are at an increased risk of negative outcomes as well as developing related chronic diseases at a much earlier age.

COVID effect

Most of the experts involved in our study agree that the childhood physical inactivity crisis is an ongoing public health challenge and the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have made it worse. When surveyed, more than 90% of the experts reported that COVID-19 had a negative impact on children’s sedentary behaviours, organised sport and physical activity. Our findings are supported by numerous studies.

Lockdowns imposed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic led to school shutdowns and closures of public parks, which hampered children’s levels of physical activity. Research suggests that children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity decreased by 17 minutes per day during the pandemic. That represents a reduction of almost one-third of the recommended daily activity. Another global study representing 187 countries showed a collective 27.3% decrease in the daily step counts of individuals after 30 days of COVID-19 related restrictions.

Our study

Four African countries participated in our study –Botswana, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The grading ranged from as high as A+ (large majority, 94%-100% of children and adolescents achieving recommended levels) to as low as F (less than 20% achieving recommended levels).

Children and adolescents from the four African countries were marginally more physically active than children from the rest of the world. They received C- (47%–53% of them met recommendations) for overall physical activity compared to the D (27%–33% met recommendations) for the rest of the world. More children and adolescents from the African countries used active transport (B-; 60%–66%), were less sedentary (C-; 40%–46%) and were more physically fit (C+; 54%–59%), compared to the rest of the world (C-, D+ and C-) respectively.

An important success story from this global comparison of grades is that despite the lack of infrastructure, average grades for individual behaviours were generally better for the African countries. This could be reflecting necessity, rather than choice. For example, children might be forced to walk to school because there’s no affordable transport. Nonetheless it shows that it is still possible to promote healthy lifestyles even when resources are limited.

Factors such as having supportive family and friends, safer communities, positive school environments and adequate resources are often associated with better participation in physical activity. Average grades for these sources of influence were generally lower for the four African countries than those of the rest of the world. These findings demonstrate the challenges related to community safety, a general lack of infrastructure, and funding to support healthy behaviours for children and adolescents in African countries.

Overall, there wasn’t enough data to accurately grade all the indicators for the African countries. Botswana was the only country for which we were able to assign grades for each of the 10 common indicators. The other three countries had at least one incomplete grade each. Lack of representative data is a common and often recurring problem in many low- and middle-income countries. It also means that our findings must be interpreted with caution. For example, we can’t say with certainty that these findings are representative of all the children and adolescents from these four countries or the region as a whole.

Way forward

In many parts of Africa, the prevalence of infectious and other diseases justifiably demands attention and resources. These needs can out compete the messages about physical inactivity, whose negative impact may be silent but still detrimental to population health.

We need to persistently advocate for policies and practices, anchored in the African context, and promote equitable opportunities for children to engage in physical activity. These can include active school recesses and extracurricular programmes. Countries need to ensure access to safe, free public spaces, green spaces, playgrounds and sporting facilities. Finally, researchers and public health practitioners must track the progress towards meeting the WHO’s targets.

THE CONVERSATION

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EVERY January, the day arrives that South Africans know can decide their fates: the “matric” exam results are announced. In 2022, 753,964 full-time and 167,915 part-time candidates registered to write the secondary school exit exam – the largest cohort ever. They’ll receive the results on 20 January 2023.

Many probably feel ambivalent about this massive moment in their educational journey. On the one hand, there is the feeling of completeness because the school years are done. On the other, there is a basket of emotions: stress, anxiety and excitement at the prospect of the unknown. Matrics (or Grade 12s) and their parents know that the National Senior Certificate, issued when matric is successfully completed, is a ticket to the future.

The results dictate whether you qualify to apply to a tertiary institution or not; this a big deal in a society that sees university qualifications as the ideal (or only) path to wealth, image and fame. University qualifications are also viewed as superior to vocational training.

So, those who don’t achieve the required matric marks will not be able to attend university. It can shatter dreams and cause huge disappointment, along with feelings of failure, hopelessness and helplessness. The way a parent or caregiver responds in this situation is extremely important.

As a researcher specialising in parent-child relationships, here’s my advice for guiding children through what can be a tough, scary and disappointing time.

Positive support

There are four key things your children need to hear if they are disappointed and feeling like a failure:

• Getting up after a fall is important
• Success is relative: everyone is different and has different abilities
• There are many ways to achieve success other than getting a university degree
• As a parent you believe your child is capable of doing anything.

This kind of positive, loving support is critical. The research I’ve conducted with various colleagues shows that parents are important in adolescents’ decision-making, life goals and aspirations. They also play a key role in shaping teens’ psychological wellbeing, as well as modelling both healthy and risky behaviours.

Negative parenting practices like rejection, neglect, psychological control, pressure to perform, overprotectiveness and indulgent parenting are associated with difficulty in making good decisions. Children may panic about making decisions, become indecisive – especially about career choices – or make risky decisions.

It is normal for parents to be disappointed that their child’s results were not as expected. However, as a start, take a deep breath and realise that your child is struggling to come to terms with their results, too, and may believe they are a failure. This is not the time to scold and berate them about not achieving.

Remember, the Grade 12 year that’s just passed has, by and large, been about achieving success and feeling the pressure to perform. This situation just amplifies their stress and anxiety.

Taking a deep breath allows for calmness in your approach to supporting your child. A more positive approach, which includes being responsive, supportive, approachable, encouraging and understanding, would be very helpful as a start to diffusing a very emotional situation for your child.

Room to talk and plan

Allow your child to talk about how they’re feeling about the outcome, without interrupting. It would be a good idea to find out if your child has thoughts about the way forward. This could be the first of a few paced conversations over a few weeks. This will allow for some perspective and give your child the chance to think things through. That helps them to develop feelings of ownership in decision-making as well as boosting their confidence and competence. This is important for the satisfaction of psychological needs to achieve psychological wellbeing.

If they haven’t thought about what comes next, you could consider exploring the options together, building a plan B and C since plan A was not achieved. For instance, your child could request re-marks for subjects where they expected to perform better. Or they could enrol for the Department of Basic Education’s Second Chance Programme.

Monitor your child and their wellbeing in this time. You may feel that you need to draw in others, such as a counsellor, psychologist or social worker, or a teacher or friend your child is close to, to help map out the next steps, providing options or just as an additional support for you and your child.
(Nicolette V Roman, University of the Western Cape)

THE CONVERSATION

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This report – made possible with the generous support of Wesleyan – set out to understand how the wellbeing of ethnic minority educators compared with the wider population. The research comprised of three focus groups, which were conducted by YouGov using its panel of education professionals. These included 26 teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders who identified as having ethnic minority backgrounds.

The results confirm many of the drivers of stress in the teaching profession, irrespective of race, including volume of workload, workplace culture and Ofsted pressures. The findings also clearly illustrate the differential experiences of Black and Brown and other ethnic minority teachers and leaders in schools across the country, including barriers to progression, tokenism and microaggressions.

Developed with insights from the BAMEed Network and Black Teachers Connect, the report explores the main drivers of stress among ethnic minority teachers, their experiences in the workplace and what needs to happen for real cultural change to take place.

In section two, we have set out to amplify the voices of research participants and to allow them to tell their story in their own way.

The Chartered College of Teaching and Education Support will hold an event on Thursday 2^nd March with Professor Dame Alison Peacock and charity CEO, Sinéad Mc Brearty to discuss their latest research into the wellbeing of ethnic minority teachers. Participants will also have an opportunity to participate in a live discussion.

Sinéad Mc Brearty, Chief Executive of Education Support says:

“Racism has no place in schools or colleges. We all have a responsibility to understand how racism is experienced by colleagues, and to improve the system for everyone. 

Discrimination serves only to demoralise and ultimately drive good teachers out of the workforce.  This serves no-one, least of all children and young people. These findings point the way to simple, inexpensive strategies for improvement.”

We have summarised our key findings of the report below. You can download a full copy of our report here.

Stress is a normalised part of being a teacher, regardless of ethnicity

“If I say I am stressed, I get told to leave school at 4pm – but still produce all the data analysis by 9am the next morning.”
Middle leader

Teachers from an ethnic minority background have to deal with the stress of teaching, plus the additional impact of racist and racialised experiences.

“I’ve purposely been singled out as the token Black teacher when visitors have been in school.”
Middle leader

Ethnic minority teachers call for much wider equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training to create more inclusive cultures.

“I was told that I was supporting extremism – when simply we were visiting a Mosque to learn more about the religion for RE.”
Middle leader

Line management experiences are variable but getting it right can help with stress management.

“One of my AHT [Assistant Headteacher] colleagues often tells me I need to think more carefully how I portray myself … as a Brown man. Sometimes I feel I have to work harder than colleagues to prove myself …. and actually similarly other ethnic minorities”
Senior leader

Sector Response

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“The experiences of being overworked and undervalued are unfortunately common across the teaching profession, regardless of ethnicity. However, it is clear from this report and from what our Black members tell us that being from a minority ethnic background adds an additional layer of racist and racialist experiences in the workplace which are further undermining teachers’ dignity and morale.

“Black teachers commonly face additional barriers to pay and career progression, as well as overt and covert racism and discrimination in their daily working lives.

“For example, our most recent data from members indicates that 59% of Asian teachers and 53% of Black teachers who were expecting to move up the pay scale in 2020/21 as a result of their performance review did so in the academic year 2020/21, compared to 73% of White teachers.

“Our data indicates lower satisfaction levels among teachers from black backgrounds. While four in ten of White teachers described themselves as satisfied or very satisfied about their job, this dropped to 34% of Asian teachers and 33% of black teachers.

“The Government could take immediate action to tackle racialised pay gaps and discrimination in the workplace by strengthening regulation, but they have refused to do so.

“This failure to act is exacerbating the serious problems with the recruitment and retention of Black teachers in the profession and undermining the basic entitlement of all workers to be treated with respect and dignity.

“We are continuing our fight for racial justice for Black teachers and will be holding our Black Teachers’ Consultation Conference this coming weekend at which these and other issues affecting Black teachers’ working lives will be discussed.”

Methodology

This research study had three main aims:

1. Provide insight into the issues and challenges experienced by ethnic minority teachers at work and how these may impact on their mental health and wellbeing
2. Explore how stress impacts the mental health and wellbeing of ethnic minority teachers
3. Recommend the resources most needed by education organisations which would benefit the mental health and wellbeing of ethnic minority teachers at work

The research comprised three online focus groups, which were conducted by YouGov using its panel of education professionals. Three focus groups explored:

• Perceptions of their teaching career
• Current challenges to the profession
• Specific challenges for teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds
• How this impacts on their mental health and wellbeing
• How best they could be supported

The specific topic of stress experienced at work was also investigated, with reference to the overall findings in the Teacher Wellbeing Index (2022). Each focus group comprised teachers working at different levels in schools.

The first group involved classroom teachers, the second group was middle leaders and the final group was senior leaders. All participants worked in primary or secondary schools (with learners aged 4-18) in different parts of England, and the majority worked in the state-funded education sector.

The focus groups were held online using YouGov’s text-based platform where the participants typed in their responses to the questions asked and discussed their experiences with each via text messages.

Many of these messages have been included in this report, so that the reader can see the teachers’ views. The focus groups were conducted by two moderators from YouGov, one of whom was from a mixed-race background and one who was white. All focus groups were held in March 2022, lasted approximately 1.5 hours, and were observed by Education Support.

FENEWS

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But suicide rates for LGBTQ+ teens are still two to three times higher than their cisgender and straight peers.

“I don’t want any other parent to ever, ever, ever feel like this,” said Dia Caulkins, whose child Graciella-Sawyer Caulkins-Feltz died by suicide in November.

Graciella-Sawyer, who was non-binary, was only 14 when they died. They loved the colors pink and yellow, and unicorns. They had just picked up photography, snapping photos of flowers, sunsets and ice cream. They cared about animals and had just started piano lessons.

They were also extremely kind and compassionate, almost to a fault, Caulkins said.

“They didn’t do this to hurt us, they did this because they couldn’t see a way out,” she said. “And we have to be doing more so that they have a place where they fit, where they’re accepted.”

World events such as the war in Ukraine and George Floyd’s death deeply affected Graciella-Sawyer. They stopped to talk with people experiencing homelessness, volunteered in the community and checked in on their siblings often. They were nice to everyone, even to those who were unkind to them.

“Their capacity for love, except for themselves, was amazing,” Caulkins said.

“I think we need to be doing more,” she said.

UW doctoral student Erin Gill and assistant professor Mollie McQuillan, who authored the study, said finding solutions is particularly important as anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric increases, especially surrounding youth and schools — from lawsuits over school districts’ gender identity policies and discourse in the 2022 gubernatorial race to efforts to repeal sex education curriculum and challenges to children’s Pride displays in libraries.

“Our study highlights that we need additional organizational supports and reforms for queer and trans kids who are getting pushed out of school and aren’t safe in school,” McQuillan said.

At the start of the pandemic , there were “two stories” about how LGBTQ+ youth were fairing, Gill said.

“We were hearing that some kids were really thriving not being in school anymore because they were out of harmful school environments,” she said. “But we’d also been hearing this other story where youth were really struggling at home, whether they were in a harmful home environment or they lacked the supports they had in school.”

THE STUDY

Those divergent experiences are borne out in the UW study, in which McQuillan and Gill compared results from the Dane County Youth Assessment from 2018 and 2021.

The assessment is a survey given to students every three years, asking them about different behaviors and risk factors, such as drug use and bullying.

Gill and McQuillan’s study found that LGBTQ+ youth reported “significantly fewer” attempts of suicide in 2021 than in 2018, but greater anxiety.

Specifically, in 2021, nearly 39 percent of gay or lesbian high schoolers reported seriously contemplating or having attempted suicide, compared with nearly 42 percent in 2018.

That rate was nearly 47 percent for bisexual students in 2021, compared with nearly 51 percent in 2018.

And for students questioning their sexual identity, the rate was just more than 35 percent in 2021 and just above 38 percent in 2018.

Corresponding rates for straight students, however, were much lower: 14 percent of them in 2021 and 17 percent in 2018.

Meanwhile, anxiety in high schoolers rose from nearly 30 percent in 2018 to more than 32 percent in 2021.

McQuillan said environmental factors may help explain why anxiety increased in students while suicidal thoughts may have decreased.

Anxiety is thought to be linked to a home environment and additional pandemic-related stressors families were facing, while other supports in school and the community were cut off, McQuillan said.

But suicide is thought to be linked more to peer victimization, or bullying.

“So, victimization doesn’t explain all of this increase in suicidality among queer and trans kids, but it explains some of it. And when kids were out of school and experiencing potentially less victimization, we saw that link of suicidality and not anxiety,” McQuillan said.

Caulkins wonders if students whose mental health improved during online schooling already had friends and peer support. “If you don’t have any friends, that’s a very lonely place to be at 12 and 13.”

For Graciella-Sawyer, “the pandemic was terrible,” their mom said.

“It wasn’t like life was easy for them before that, but it was like they were treading water okay,” Caulkins said. “And as the pandemic went on, they got lonelier and sadder.”

Once in-person learning returned, Graciella-Sawyer tried to make friends by joining clubs and staying involved. But some kids bullied them verbally, and some even took photos of them and threatened to post them online.

“We as adults, we as the grown-ups, have to teach kids that their words matter and they stick with kids who are lonely and sad and isolated,” Caulkins said. “As parents, we have a responsibility to make sure that our kids know they are not OK.”

What she hopes to see: More community building in schools, to expose students to different backgrounds and identities, and better mental health services.

The process to get counseling for Graciella-Sawyer was slow, and now as Caulkins is trying to find counseling for her other children as they grieve, the waitlist is months long.

Gill said the study reinforces the importance of bolstering and multiplying ways to support LGBTQ+ youth. And McQuillan said there should be more support to “disrupt” bullying that’s likely happening again now that kids are back in schools.

“I’m really inspired by LGBTQ youth who have been standing up to this political pressure,” Gill added. She said that while students may be struggling because of the increased rhetoric, there is also an increase in peers and LGBTQ+ youth “championing” one another.

McQuillan and Gill hope to expand their study next by looking at statewide data.

As for Graciella-Sawyer, they were giving to the last: Their organs were donated.

“And all moms love their kids, of course, but really, Sawyer really wanted to make the world a better place, and they should have been here to do that as an adult,” Caulkins said. “They would have devoted their life to making it better.”

govtech.com

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ECAC leads in the coordination of World AIDS day commemoration. Interdepartmental dialogue was one of the build up events which precedes the world AIDS day. The buildup aimed at raising awareness and to get the youth and entire community to converse on HIV/AIDS, TB, STI, LGBTQI+ and other social behavioural issues and focus on the implementation of CSE.

Maletswai learners entertained the crowd with educational performances which were then followed by the DOE Debate which was facilitated by the Learner Support Agents (LSA).

The debate topic was: The Department strives to have healthy schools which are inclusive centers for learning and teaching, and accommodative to LGBTQI+ community. Learners debated on whether LGBTQIA+ community should be accommodated in schools or not.

The second dialogue was led by Department of Social Development, Social Worker, Noxolo Hendricks, who is a facilitator of “YOLO” which is a Social and Behaviour Change Programme targeting youth between the ages 15-24 years, both in and out of school.

“YOLO has 5 building blocks with 12 sessions. Today we implemented in Session 7: Risky Behaviours. The purpose of the program is to change Social and individual behaviors to reduce issues of HIV transmission, STI and teenage pregnancy”, said Hendricks.

Grade 8 learner from Mehlomakhulu SS School in Hersherl, Okuhle Tapane, who took part in the learner dialogue said that from the Risky Behaviours topic, she learned that learners are always trying to impress friends and end up getting involved with older men who promise to buy them nice things and a fancy lifestyle.

“I believe that this leads to unprotected sex and being infected with diseases. I would advise learners to focus on school and self love, money won’t buy you happiness or help you progress in school” said Tapane.

Acting Director, School Health, Safety and Learner Enrichment, Pam Gxuluwe stated that it is the duty of the directorate to oversee the health of learners and to make sure that children perform well at school.

“Today’s programme is very important in  building awareness on World AIDS Day and understanding what the day is all about. We have learners that are affected and infected by HIV/AIDS, some were born with it and some lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.

Living with a parent who’s HIV+ can be hard on children and can badly affect their performance at school. This is why we implemented this programme as a tool to empower and educate them that living with HIV/Aids is not the end of the world.”

She added that the learner dialogues will help children to talk about their experiences and challenges. It will help them heal and know that there are others living with the same conditions and where to go for help.

Siphosethu Zimba| Eastern Cape Education News

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According to the joint publication, a record high of nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose, of which 25 million children missed their first dose and an additional 14.7 million children skipped their second dose in 2021.

“This decline is a significant setback in global progress towards achieving and maintaining measles elimination and leaves millions of children susceptible to infection.”

In 2021, according to the WHO and CDC, there were an estimated nine million cases and 128 000 deaths from measles worldwide.

Meanwhile, the research found that 22 countries experienced large and disruptive outbreaks.

Declines in vaccine coverage; weakened measles surveillance; continued interruptions and delays in immunisation activities due to COVID-19; as well as persistent large outbreaks in 2022 mean that measles is an imminent threat in every region of the world.

In South Africa, Limpopo recorded 52 cases since the beginning of the measles outbreak.

This comes after the National Institute For Communicable Diseases of South Africa declared a measles outbreak after three cases from two healthcare facilities were reported in the same district in October.

“The paradox of the pandemic is that while vaccines against COVID-19 were developed in record time and deployed in the largest vaccination campaign in history, routine immunisation programmes were badly disrupted, and millions of kids missed out on life-saving vaccinations against deadly diseases like measles,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Getting immunisation programmes back on track is critical. Behind every statistic in this report is a child at risk of a preventable disease.”

According to the two organisations, the situation is grave.

Measles is one of the most contagious human viruses but is almost entirely preventable through vaccination.

“Coverage of 95% or greater of two doses of measles-containing vaccine is needed to create herd immunity to protect communities and achieve and maintain measles elimination. The world is well under that, with only 81% of children receiving their first measles-containing vaccine dose, and only 71% of children receiving their second measles-containing vaccine dose.”

These figures, according to the institutions, are the lowest global coverage rates of the first dose of measles vaccination since 2008, although the coverage varies by country.

Meanwhile, no WHO region has achieved and sustained measles elimination.

Since 2016, 10 countries that had previously eliminated measles experienced outbreaks and re-established transmission.

“The record number of children under-immunised and susceptible to measles shows the profound damage immunisation systems have sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CDC Director, Dr Rochelle Walensky.

Delays increase the risk of measles outbreaks, so the time for public health officials to accelerate vaccination efforts and strengthen surveillance is now.

CDC and WHO urge coordinated and collaborative action from all partners at global, regional, national, and local levels to prioritise efforts to find and immunise all unprotected children, including those who were missed during the last two years.

SA NEWS

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SOUTH African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) says the Department of Basic Education must make available psychosocial support to learners writing the examinations.

The continued power cuts have caused a wave of anxiety and unnecessary stress for dozens of learners writing their matric exams.

“The issue for us is that load shedding impacts learners’ emotional and mental health. We would like the department to appreciate that and step up to offer psychosocial support to mitigate Eskom problems,” SADTU General Secretary Mugwena Maluleke said.

Maluleke said it is unacceptable for the department to want learners who missed a particular paper to only get a chance next year.

He said contingency papers should be used this year so that learners can receive their results come January 9th, 2023.

“Each and every paper has a contingency paper. This is the flexibility we are looking for from the department.”

“Learners who were not able to write exams because of protest actions should be afforded an opportunity this year to write. Learners will be traumatized if they have to wait for May next year. It’s not their fault,” he added.

No leaked matric papers so far

“We have not seen any reports. We hope it remains the same way, we have requested parents to sign commitment agreements to work with us to ensure exams are clean. Learners have signed the pledges.”

“All delays were sorted out without delays. If there is loadshedding, there is likely going to be delay,” said Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga.

Maluleke says there are areas where the union is in agreement with the Department of Basic Education, especially on calling on those embarking on protest actions to allow for smooth running of the examinations.

“In 2020/21 these Grade 10 learners today in Grade 12 were attending a rotational timetable. For schools with less equipped resources, learners were attending once or twice a week, we can’t say that’s enough but we need to give thanks to teachers.”

“We thank the teachers for sacrificing their time and families in making sure that afternoon and evening classes are there, Maluleka said.

The basic education department’s director-general, Mathanzima Mweli, hosted a session on the progress of the exams during a media briefing.

In Gauteng, 53 learners couldn’t write Economics paper 1 on Tuesday from Etwatwa in Ekurhuleni due to protests.

“We’ve also picked up that there are some parents, and some schools that denied learners from writing exams because some of them fell pregnant and some of them had not paid school fees. Again, this is unlawful.”

“Our policies are very clear on these matters. The issue of school fees should be dealt with by parents or guardians. No learner should be prevented from writing exams because of having not paid school fees,” Mweli said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

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