Province Of South Africa Research Articles

Antivenom supply and demand: An analysis of antivenom availability and utilization in South Africa

IntroductionSnakebites are a neglected tropical disease. In many areas, envenoming incidence and antivenom administration rates are unknown. This study compared antivenom (AV) availability to rates of envenoming and recommendations to treat (RTT) in South Africa. MethodsThis retrospective study identified, extracted, and reviewed all cases of envenoming (snake bites and spits) reported to the Poisons Information Helpline of the Western Cape of South Africa (PIHWC) from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2020 by public hospitals in the Western Cape. A standardized interview was administered to the pharmacies of the 40 hospitals in winter and summer to determine how many vials of monovalent and polyvalent AV they had on hand at the time of the call and their expiration dates. Descriptive analysis was used to compare rates of envenoming and recommendations to treat to antivenom stock in winter and summer and by hospital type and location. ResultsPublic hospitals reported 300 envenomings, 122 from snakes. The PIHWC recommended antivenom administration in 26% of cases (N = 32). All hospital pharmacies queried answered our questions. Our study demonstrates urban district hospitals have higher ratios of AV vials compared to mean annual rates of envenoming and RTT than rural district hospitals at both the winter and summer timepoints. ConclusionThis study evaluates antivenom supply and demand in a province of South Africa. The findings suggest South African urban hospitals have a relative excess of antivenom, and thus more capacity to meet demand, than their rural counterparts. It supports consideration of a redistribution of antivenom supply chains to match seasonal and local rates of envenoming. It indicates a need for higher quality, prospective data characterizing envenoming incidence and treatment.

A Comparative Assessment of Annual Solar Irradiance Trends between Mpumalanga and Northern Cape Province in South Africa Using PVGIS

South Africa has committed to reducing its greenhouse emissions by sixty-five percent by 2030 in their National Integrated Energy Plan (NEIP). The lack of investment and development for renewable energy sources put the country on an uncertain trajectory in fulfilling its 2030 energy commitments. At the same time, the country has been labeled as a region with one of the highest solar energy potentials. Provinces such as Mpumalanga and Northern Cape are on opposite ends of the matter, with Northern Cape is one of the leading provinces for renewal energy, while the Mpumalanga province remains the host to eighty-five per cent of the country’s coal plants. Solar energy is an abundant renewable energy source and can be assessed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques. In this paper, the geostatistical technique, Kriging, is employed to predict, estimate, and compare the regional distribution, potential, and variability of annual optimum solar energy (irradiance) between the Mpumalanga Province and Northern Cape Province. Spot-based radiation data are available for solar energy analyses from the GIS Web-based tool Photovoltaic Geographical Information Systems (PVGIS). Kriging was used to estimate the spatial variability of solar energy at an average error of 1.98505% for the Northern Cape Province and 2.32625% for the Mpumalanga Province. It was identified that the Northern Cape receives the highest annual optimum irradiation and has a low overall spatial variation in irradiation over its provincial area. Mpumalanga receives lesser amounts of irradiation but has high overall spatial variation over its provincial area. Most of Northern Cape’s central to northwestern regions have the highest annual optimum irradiation ranging from 2583 kWh/m2 to 2638 kWh/m2, while Mpumalanga’s highest regions of annual irradiation occur primarily on its western and northwestern parts and ranges in highs of 2345 kWh/m2 to 2583 kWh/m2.

An Investigation on the Factors Influencing the Success and Failure of Co-Operatives in the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM), Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

In an era when the level of unemployment and poverty continues to be a challenge in both developed and underdeveloped nations, many countries have identified the need to strengthen the legislative frameworks that perceive co-operatives as resilient, vibrant, and viable economic alternatives. However, there is a lot of literature pointing to the failure of co-operatives to live beyond five years. This study, hence, explored the factors that cause Co-operatives to fail despite the support received from governments. The study used a thematic analysis descriptive qualitative approach with data collected from five Co-operatives in the Chris Hani District Co-operatives in the Eastern Cape, Province South Africa. In-depth interviews were used in the study, as such, a narrative of verbatim accounts was used to derive themes and sub-themes for results analysis. The findings revealed countless aspects that hinder the progress of Co-operatives such as inadequacies associated with the lack of managerial skills for good governance, age gap among members and viewing the co-operative as just a project, not a business enterprise, political interference and infighting among members. The paper concluded that Co-operatives indeed offer a significant contribution to the socio-economic development and need to be effectively managed. The paper recommended that monitoring and evaluation instruments by funders and government departments responsible for registering and guiding co-operatives be developed. The study will help Co-operatives identify more ways of becoming successful and sustainable. Keywords: Chris Hani District Municipality, Co-operatives, Socio-economic Development, Government, Success, Failure, Eastern Cape Province

Access to special support grants and relative impact of resilience pillars on households’ resilience capacity in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: Application of FAO’s Shiny RIMA tool

The endowments of resources, institutional management and a household's capacity to handle challenges and unexpected events all contribute to their resilience and well-being. Unfortunately, many people in developing countries are vulnerable to episodes of shock and trapped in a vicious cycle of deprivations that hinder their ability to recover from shocks. This study examined how households’ resilience capability was affected by different resilience pillars and indicators, the pattern of resilience heterogeneity and the relative impact of those pillars on households’ resilience capability in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A data set from the 2021 South African General Household Survey comprising 1499 households was used. The data were analyzed with the FAO’s Shiny RIMA tool and structural equation modeling technique. Findings revealed an estimated general household resilience capacity index of 44.88 which appeared low. The results also indicated that adaptive capability or stability is weakly related to and the least significant pillar in terms of its contribution to households' resilience capacity while the social safety net pillar is highly linked to and the most important pillar contributing to households’ resilience capacity. The contributions of the access to basic services and asset endowments pillars were shown to be crucial in reducing inequality in households’ resilience capacity. There was also clear evidence of heterogeneity in households’ resilience capacity. SEM analysis revealed that access to basic services, the social safety net and households’ attributes had a significant impact on households’ resilience capacity. Policy target actions are needed in areas where capacities are lacking or insufficient while the pillars that performed well should also be prioritized for building sustained households’ resilience capacity.

Out of the Palaearctic: the Helophorus water beetles of the Afrotropical Region (Coleoptera: Helophoridae)

Helophorus Fabricius, 1775 (Coleoptera: Hydrophiloidea: Helophoridae) is an old and largely Holarctic genus of beetles, with most extant diversity concentrated in the Palae­arctic. As with a number of primarily northern temperate lineages, the genus has colonised the Afrotropical Region, with species described from the Ethiopian Highlands and southern Africa. Here, the Afrotropical Helophorus fauna is revised, based on a study of all primary types and additional material, including extensive recent collections from South Africa. The known Afrotropical fauna is shown to be comprised of six species, only three of which were previously described: H. aethiopicus Régimbart, 1907, from southern highland areas of Ethiopia, H. aethiops J. Balfour-Browne, 1954 known from summer and year-round rainfall areas of South Africa and Namibia and H. cooperi Orchymont, 1948, stat. nov., described as a subspecies of H. aethiopicus and still only known from the type locality in Ethiopia. To these, three new species are added: H. brumopluvialis sp. nov., widespread in winter rainfall areas of the Western and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa, H. nyandaruaensis sp. nov. from mountains of the East African Rift in Kenya and H. simiensis sp. nov. from the Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia. All species are (re)described in detail and illustrated with high-resolution photos. Known distributions are mapped and a key to species provided. It is suggested that the two South African species may have speciated allochronically, due to seasonal shifts in life cycle associated with the development of the winter rainfall regime in the Cape during the Plio-Pleistocene. Helophorus are hypothesised to have colonised the Afrotropics on at least two occasions from separate Palaearctic ancestors.

Using Internet Access for Service Continuity amid the Covid-19 Pandemic in the North West Provincial Public Libraries of South Africa

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the many ICT infrastructural challenges entrenched in community libraries. This study determined how public libraries in the North West Province of South Africa could use internet access to continue the provision of information services to clients amid the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. This was guided by key research objectives, namely to ascertain the status of internet access in North West provincial public libraries; determine the effect of the Covid-19 lockdown on services in North West provincial public libraries; and identify ways to use technology for service continuity in these libraries. The study adopted a quantitative research approach and employed a survey design. A questionnaire was used to collect data from a purposive sample of 15 public libraries in the North West Province. This sample was derived from a population of 123 community libraries falling under the provincial Department of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation. The findings revealed that there was a lack of funding to develop and support the ICT infrastructure in community libraries. It was further revealed that most of the province’s community libraries did not have access to the internet due to expired contracts with internet service providers (ISPs). Furthermore, the study revealed a lack of business continuity planning in community libraries. The study recommended that the province provide funding to community libraries for the development and maintenance of ICT infrastructure. The development of a central point in the province to manage internet access to community libraries was further recommended. It was further recommended that community libraries develop business continuity plans in consultation with stakeholders.

Assessment of the Performance of Obesity Measures in the Screening of Hypertension in a South African Adolescent Population.

Obesity is known to be one of the most significant risk factors for essential hypertension in childhood. However, whether obesity cut-offs may predict hypertension screening in adolescents remains controversial. This study investigated the performance of obesity cut-off values for the screening of hypertension in a South African adolescent population. In this cross-sectional study, 1144 adolescents aged between 11 and 17 years were recruited from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) parameters including diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and heart rate (HR) were measured. Assessment of the sensitivity and specific of obesity cut-off values in predicting hypertension was performed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Obesity was positively associated (p < 0.01) with hypertension. Obese individuals, based on the predicted obesity using BMI percentile cut-off (pBMI85.2%), were more likely to develop hypertension (odds ratio: 2.070; p < 0.001) than their counterparts based on the observed obesity cut-off (pBMI95%) (Odd ratio: 1.748 p = 0.004). The area under the curve (AUC) of BMI percentile and WHtR for screening SBP percentile, and DBP percentile and HR as per ROC analysis, was low (<0.65). Equally, the sensitivity and specificity were low (<0.6) for all BP measures (SBP, DBP, and HR). Furthermore, the cut-off values for blood pressure measures, as established by ROC analysis using anthropometric measures, were far below the recommended cut-off values for hypertension screening. The obesity cut-offs for BMI percentile and WHtR established in this populations showed poor performance in diagnosing hypertension even though they were strong predictors of hypertension.

Managing Local Health System Interdependencies: Referral and Outreach Systems for Maternal and Newborn Health in Three South African Districts

In complex health systems, referral and outreach systems (ROS) are formal strategies for connecting and managing interdependencies between facilities in service delivery pathways. Well-functioning maternal and newborn ROS are critical to successful outcomes, and therefore, a good lens through which to examine the management of local interdependencies. We conducted a qualitative study of maternal–newborn ROS, involving interviews with 52 senior, middle, and frontline managers, in three health districts of three different provinces in South Africa. We analyse the differences in functioning of ROS as an interplay of setting (urban, rural), individual facility strengths and weaknesses, the quality of emergency medical services (EMS), and the wider provincial strategic and organisational context. ROS are strengthened by sub-district governance arrangements that recognise and enable connectedness—in particular, between primary health care and district hospital services; by informal, day-to-day communication and collaboration across levels and professions; and by hybrid clinical–managerial players as system brokers and systems thinkers. We also identify leverage points, places where small shifts could have wider system effects, most notably in the design and functioning of EMS, and in addressing small, but significant bottlenecks in supply chains in lower level facilities that negatively impact the system as a whole.

Midwives’ Views Regarding Tuberculosis Screening amongst HIV/AIDS Positive Pregnant Women South Africa

Tuberculosis (TB) infections is classified as one of the non-pregnancy related infections (NPRI) which cause maternal mortality. Therefore, it was important for the researcher to explore the challenges faced by midwives regarding TB screening as it is the most leading complication in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected pregnant women. To that effect, several strategies for TB screening during pregnancy have been introduced and implemented thus far. Screening of TB during antenatal care helps to enhance early detection, exclusion and treatment of the infection in pregnant women who are HIV positive. The study used qualitative descriptive research design. The population included all midwives aged 30 to 48 years, who were working at primary health (PHC) clinics in Kganya local area, Capricorn District, Limpopo Province in South Africa. Nonprobability purposive sampling technique was employed to select ten midwives. Data were collected through in-depth individual semi -structured interviews with ten midwives. Data analysis was accomplished, using the manual thematic analysis according to Tesch’s method of data analysis. Finally the main themes were extracted. Two themes emerged from the study, namely: Challenges regarding TB screening; Measures that can enhance TB screening. It is important that the department of health should pay attention to challenges faced by midwives to ensure adequate TB screening amongst HIV positive pregnant women. Capacitating both midwives and the community with knowledge regarding TB screening during pregnancy can be beneficial to the health of the pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Off-label drug use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa: topic modelling and sentiment analysis of ivermectin in South Africa and Nigeria as a case study.

Although rejected by the World Health Organization, the human and even veterinary formulation of ivermectin has widely been used for prevention and treatment of COVID-19. In this work we leverage Twitter to understand the reasons for the drug use from ivermectin supporters, their source of information, their emotions, their gender demographics, and location information, in Nigeria and South Africa. Topic modelling is performed on a Twitter dataset gathered using keywords 'ivermectin' and 'ivm'. A model is fine-tuned on RoBERTa to find the stance of the tweets. Statistical analysis is performed to compare the stance and emotions. Most ivermectin supporters either redistribute conspiracy theories posted by influencers, or refer to flawed studies confirming ivermectin efficacy in vitro. Three emotions have the highest intensity, optimism, joy and disgust. The number of anti-ivermectin tweets has a significant positive correlation with vaccination rate. All the provinces in South Africa and most of the provinces of Nigeria are pro-ivermectin and have higher disgust polarity. This work makes the effort to understand public discussions regarding ivermectin during the COVID-19 pandemic to help policy-makers understand the rationale behind its popularity, and inform more targeted policies to discourage self-administration of ivermectin. Moreover, it is a lesson to future outbreaks.

Exposure levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from mobile base stations in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

This study assessed the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) exposure levels proximal to primary school structures in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. A calibrated Acoustimeter was used to measure the RF EMF levels at defined distance points of 50 and 100m away from the three mobile base stations, that provide a 4G network coverage. All the measurements were obtained from three mobile stations, each from one district municipality, using 30 minutes intervals for repeated measurements. The measured peak exposure level at 50m was 887 μW/m2 and 905 μW/m2 at 100m. No statistical difference was found when comparing the measurement data obtained at 50 and 100m from the three district municipalities. However, comparison of measurements obtained at 50 and 100m for all base stations were statistically significant, p-value< .002 and p< .003 respectively. The measured RF EMF exposure levels at both distance points were below the reference levels found under International Commission for Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) RF guidelines. It is therefore essential for mobile base station companies to consider proximity of residential structures when installing new base stations in the future, and regularly maintain the components of mobile base towers, especially in the current state of power load shedding in South Africa.

Financial management decision-making of school finance committees in public primary schools in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

Subject to the South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 section 16(1), the governance of every public school is vested in its governing body and it may perform only such functions and obligations and exercise only such rights as prescribed by the Act. Section 30(1a) of this Act demands school governing bodies to establish committees and appoint members of the School Governing Body (SGB) to such committees based on expertise. With this study I investigated the financial management decision-making of school finance committees in public primary schools in the Mpumalanga province in South Africa. A qualitative approach was applied in the study. Focus-group interviews were used to collect data from the purposefully selected 2 public primary schools in which the finance committee members were involved. A case study design was applied. Thematic data analysis was used to analyse the collected data. All the participants demonstrated awareness of their financial management decision-making roles. Participants revealed that they did not perform their roles effectively due to their illiteracy levels, limited understanding of financial management legislation, inadequate training, interference of the principals in the management of finances, poor consultation and communication. I recommend to the Department of Education to provide financial committees with adequate support and training, to capacitate principals in the area of human relations and resource management and consider appointing financial management advisors at the circuit offices within districts to assist in guiding, monitoring and evaluating the financial management processes in schools on a regular basis.

Community Reintegration of Offenders at an Overcrowded Rural Correctional Facility: Work Experiences of Correctional Officials

Community reintegration of offenders is one of South Africa’s methods of rehabilitating offenders who have served a portion of their sentence in a correctional centre. However, overcrowding in the rural correctional facilities that have limited resources have exposed the correctional officials to enormous work-related challenges. This paper discusses the work-related challenges experienced by correctional officials at Rooigrond Correctional Centre, a rural correctional centre in North West Province in South Africa. This study employed a qualitative research approach and a descriptive research design to capture the challenges experienced by correctional officials during reintegration of offenders at Rooigrond Correctional Centre. Due to the different ranks of the correctional officials who participated in the study, a quota sampling technique was used to involve ten correctional officials in face-to-face interviews. Thematic data analysis was used, which showed that correctional officials experience a plethora of challenges which have an impact on work and personal levels. This paper makes significant conclusions and recommendations to improve the work-related experiences of the correctional officials in overcrowded, low-resourced rural correctional facilities.

Predictors of business-to-business loyalty and repurchase intentions in South Africa’s concrete product market

Purpose: Relational exchanges between buyers and sellers in business-to-business (B2B) contexts are becoming important in today’s competitive markets. With increases in the number of concrete product manufacturer-supplier (CPMs) organisations in the construction industry, customers still express dissatisfaction with supplier relationship quality. This study examined associations between relationship quality and commitment leading to customer loyalty and repurchase intention in South Africa’s concrete product market.Design/methodology/approach: Civil and building engineering contractors, are the study participants owing to their scope and size of work in Gauteng province of South Africa. Quantitative cross-sectional data collection approach was applied using self-administered structured questionnaires. Only 560 responses were received, and data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS).Findings/results: The results revealed that CPMs relationship quality and commitment contributions do lead to customer satisfaction as precursor of loyalty and repurchase intention. Elevated satisfaction levels do accelerate the relationship between the study constructs.Practical implications: CPMs and their customers should embrace applying relational exchanges that promote long-term B2B relationships and business survival. Also, they should invest in strategies that improve customer satisfaction and eternal loyalty towards long-term B2B repurchase intention and survival.Originality/value: No study primarily in an emerging South African concrete product market examined the relationship between the study constructs and hence this study adds new insights into the existing body of knowledge relating to how CPMs’ relationship quality and commitment influence customer satisfaction, loyalty and repurchase intention.

Physical Sciences Teacher’s Epistemic Cognition on Electric Circuits and their Science Teaching Practice

Although a wide range of studies have been conducted on teachers' cognition and their beliefs. The relationship between teachers' epistemic cognition and their teaching practices has rarely been studied. This study aimed to investigate how physical science teachers' epistemic cognition relates to their teaching practices on electric circuits. A mixed-method explanatory sequential design was adopted for this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to sample participants from the accessible population in uMkhanyakude District KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. A total number of forty Further Education and Training (FET) Physical Sciences teachers formed the sample. A survey (questionnaire level 5 Likert scale) and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The Model of Teacher Epistemic Cognition was employed as the theoretical framework. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study showed that physical science teachers’ teaching practices are strongly correlated to ECS (Epistemic Cognition Source), ECJ (Epistemic Cognition Justification), SEA (Simple Epistemic Aim), and ECC (Epistemic Cognition Certainty). Furthermore, there was a negative correlation between complex epistemic aims with teaching practice which accounted for why teachers do not teach electric circuits for conceptual understanding but rather algorithmically mathematical knowledge. Implications for teaching practices particular to electric circuits are discussed. The findings have implications for teaching science and further research into epistemic cognition.

The molecular epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius canine clinical isolates submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory in South Africa.

Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is an important cause of clinical infections in small-animal-veterinary medicine. Evolutionary changes of strains using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) have been observed among S. pseudintermedius in European countries and the United States. However, there are limited or no studies on the detection of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) and predominating MLST strains in South Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the molecular epidemiology of S. pseudintermedius in South Africa. Twenty-six, non-duplicate, clinical isolates from dogs were obtained as convenience samples from four provinces in South Africa. The Kirby Bauer disk diffusion test was used to determine antimicrobial susceptibility. We used Resfinder and the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD) to detect antimicrobial resistance genes. Virulence genes were identified using the virulence factor database and Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTN) on Geneious prime. geoBURST analysis was used to study relationships between MLST. Finally, the maximum likelihood phylogeny was determined using Randomized Axelerated Maximum Likelihood (RAxML). Twenty-three isolates were confirmed as S. pseudintermedius of which 14 were MRSP. In addition to β-lactam antimicrobials, MRSP isolates were resistant to tetracycline (85.7%), doxycycline (92.8%), kanamycin (92.8%), and gentamicin (85.7%). The isolates harbored antimicrobial resistance genes (tetM, ermB, drfG, cat, aac(6')-Ie-aph(2")-Ia, ant(6)-Ia, and aph(3')-III) and virulence genes (AdsA, geh, icaA, and lip). MLST analysis showed that ST2228, ST2229, ST2230, ST2231, ST2232, ST2318, ST2326 and ST2327 are unique sequence types in South Africa. Whereas, previously reported major STs including ST45, ST71, ST181, ST551 and ST496 were also detected. The geoBURST and phylogenetic analysis suggests that the isolates in South Africa are likely genetically related to isolates identified in other countries. Highly resistant MRSP strains (ST496, ST71, and ST45) were reported that could present challenges in the treatment of canine infections in South Africa. Hence, we have gained a better understanding of the epidemiology of MRSP in the African continent, the genes involved in resistance and virulence factors associated with these organisms.

Determinants of the acceptability of university agricultural extension in the Gauteng province of South Africa

Determinants of the acceptability of university agricultural extension in the Gauteng province of South Africa

Undergraduate Students’ Experiences with Electronic Learning Platforms During the Covid 19 Pandemic at a Rural-Based Tertiary Institution in South Africa

The Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a transformative shift in the South African education sector, compelling universities to adopt electronic learning platforms (E-LPs) as the primary mode of delivering lectures during the pandemic. However, there is a dearth of systematic literature documenting the implications of migration to this electronic based model for undergraduate teaching and learning in South African rural-based universities. Addressing this research gap, this qualitative study drew on transitional distance theory (TDT) to identify the challenges associated with electronic learning (e-learning). The study also examined the implications of these challenges for teaching and learning, based on experiences of 30 purposefully selected undergraduate students at the University of Venda, in the rural Limpopo province of South Africa. A thematic narrative analysis of the students’ experiences shows three major challenges as encapsulating the use of E LPs: practical unpreparedness and lack of skills needed for online learning; complicated domestic obligations; and inefficient interactions with lecturers and peers, which were limited by lack of physical contact. These findings add to the growing body of literature on the impact of Covid-19 on learning at institutions of higher learning in South Africa. The findings have implications for discussions on gender inequality in the domestic sphere in South Africa, as well as the material disparities between traditionally White universities and rural-based universities in South Africa. Based on these findings, it is recommended that rural-based tertiary institutions in South Africa implement effective strategies to enhance students’ computer skills and familiarize them with E LPs at the early stages of their tertiary education.

Impacts of Covid-19 on mental health service provision in the Western Cape, South Africa: The MASC study.

In the context of an already large treatment gap in South Africa, this study aimed to examine how Covid-19 and the related lockdown measures affected the availability, accessibility, quality, and continuity of mental health services in the Western Cape province in South Africa. A mixed-methods design was employed, using narrative surveys, quantitative surveys, and qualitative semi-structured interviews, with 17 public mental health providers, and secondary data from the District Health Information System. We analysed and combined the data using descriptive statistics, template analysis and methodological triangulation. Results showed that Covid-19 and the lockdowns had negative impacts on mental health service provision at all levels of care, such as reduced access to services, increased stigma and discrimination, disrupted medication supply, increased workload and stress for providers, and the closure of psychosocial and therapeutic services. Innovations used by providers to mitigate these impacts included telehealth, online training, peer support groups, and community outreach. The study concludes that Covid-19 and the lockdowns exposed and exacerbated the existing gaps and challenges in mental health service provision in South Africa. Key recommendations for policy formation and response to future pandemics in the public mental health sector include: classifying psychological treatments as essential services, establishing an intersectoral mental health emergency response plan, involving mental health care users in the development of pandemic responses, creating policies for managing health emergencies in psychiatric facilities, and increasing resources for the mental health sector in South Africa. These recommendations are relevant for South Africa and other LMICs in ensuring adequate mental health care during public health emergencies.

Traditional ecological knowledge and practices for ecosystem conservation and management: the case of savanna ecosystem services in Limpopo, South Africa

ABSTRACT Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) aids ecosystem conservation and management. While recognising the importance of Western science and knowledge, we argue that TEK practices are not appreciated resulting in continued and accelerated degradation of ecosystem services. This is prevalent among rural communities who are disadvantaged as their livelihoods depend on these ecosystem services. Taking the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province in South Africa as a case study, we explored the TEK practices employed to conserve and manage savanna ecosystem services. Employing the socio-ecological analysis (SEA) theory, we examined the perception and value of savanna ecosystem services. Data were initially collected from interviews with a professional biodiversity expert, an academic biodiversity expert, and a professional archaeologist and cultural expert (n = 4). In phase two, interviews were conducted with tribal representatives, traditional leaders, and community members (n = 43) in the four villages of Ga-Dikgale, Ga-Matlala, Moletlane and Ga-Malebogo across Capricorn District Municipality. Field observations were also undertaken. The findings highlighted the interrelated forms of sociocultural practices for the conservation and management of savanna ecosystem services, including norms, taboos, myths, rules, and cultural lifestyles. There were age differences in valuing and using TEK where younger people perceived TEK as backward. They relied on Western scientific knowledge, which they lauded as contemporary and not in opposition with their religious values. In conclusion, TEK continued to provide best practices for ecosystem conservation and management. This was identified by the respect and attention from the community who were aware of TEK even if they did not practice the processes. However, TEK is under threat as rural communities become more urbanized.