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27 March 2018 Photo Earl Coetzee
Research focus on HIV and TB stigma among healthcare workers
Posters reading, “Let’s Stop Stigma” urge healthcare workers to ”Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others.” Pictured here are Dr Asta Rau, Director of CHSR&D and Dr Michelle Engelbrecht, deputy director of the centre.
Researchers working on an internationally funded project are tackling a key occupational health issue: HIV and TB stigma among Free State healthcare workers. They developed and rolled out interventions to decrease stigma and will soon measure the effects. 
In this four-year project, UFS researchers from the Centre for Health Systems Research and Development (CHSR&D) are partnering with Antwerp University and the Free State Department of Health.  

Stigma is like an invisible mark 
A project leader at the CHSR&D, Dr Asta Rau, says most research on stigma in public health focuses on HIV stigma towards patients. Little is done on stigma among healthcare workers themselves. 
Dr Rau says that stigma undermines people’s dignity and causes them suffering. It can even stop them from seeking healthcare. Stigma threatens the health of healthcare workers and the stability of the health system, which is already under strain due to personnel shortages. 

Interventions to make a difference
The research identified two types of stigma - external stigma that can be seen around us, e.g. in the way healthcare workers speak about or treat one another and internal stigma that happens when healthcare workers take this ‘outside’ stigma and turn it inward on themselves. 

Dr Rau says the interventions involve training healthcare workers about what stigma is and how to go about reducing it. “We give them the knowledge and tips on how to communicate when they encounter stigma. It is up to them to then use that to fight stigma.” A communication campaign with posters and branded social marketing materials supports the training. The campaign uses a single slogan: ”Let’s Stop Stigma” and urges healthcare workers to ”Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others."

News Archive

Blood tests for players at FIFA Confederations Cup
2009-03-21

Football stars coming to South Africa to play in the FIFA Confederations Cup tournament in June will not only have their urine tested for illegal substances but their blood as well.

This will be the first time that blood samples from sportsmen or women will be tested in South Africa.

“Blood testing is a new regulation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and will be implemented in our laboratory for the FIFA Confederations Cup in June,” according to Dr Pieter van der Merwe, Head of the SA Doping Control Laboratory at the University of the Free State (UFS), the only testing facility of its kind in Southern Africa.

Although urine will still be tested, blood tests have become compulsory, because the substances used by sports men and women are becoming more sophisticated.

“Some substances, such as the growth hormone, can more easily be detected in blood. It is more difficult to determine these kinds of substances in urine,” explained Dr Van der Merwe.

“We were contracted by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to conduct the testing for the 7’s World Cup Rugby Tournament that was recently held in Dubai and by FIFA to do the testing for the Confederations Cup this year as well as the 2010 World Cup. This demonstrates the confidence of International Sport Federations in the quality and standard of work produced by this facility at the UFS,” he said.

The results of all tests done for the national programme in South Africa are sent to the Institute for Drug Free Sport based in Cape Town from where it is reported to the various sports federations. However, the rugby and soccer results are reported directly to the IRB and FIFA respectively.

The move to incorporate blood tests in the testing process has resulted in the expansion of the facility’s infrastructure.

“A new extension will be built for us in the near future in order for us to accommodate the conducting of urine and blood testing,” says Dr van der Merwe.

Media Release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2749
Cell: 072 207 8334
E-mail: fishera.stg@ufs.ac.za  
20 March 2009

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