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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

Ms Oprah Winfrey receives an honorary doctorate from the UFS
2011-06-24

 

Dr Oprah Winfrey after receiving her honorary doctorate degree.
Photo: Rian Horn 

Our university awarded an honorary doctorate in Education to global media leader and philanthropist Ms Oprah Winfrey on Friday 24 June 2011.

The honorary doctorate is in recognition of Ms Winfrey’s unparalleled dedication to improving the lives and futures of so many by improving education and ensuring that it is accessible to all. Through her award-winning show, The Oprah Winfrey Show (which concluded this year after 25 years of entertainment and service) and the various charity organisations she has established, Ms Winfrey harnessed the power of her iconic stature in the struggle to eradicate poverty and make education accessible to all.

The Callie Human Centre on our Bloemfontein Campus, where the award ceremony took place, was packed with an excited audience consisting of students, staff, members of the public and special guests. After receiving her honorary doctorate, Ms Winfrey addressed the audience and gave students the opportunity to ask her questions. During the ceremony, entertainment was provided by acclaimed musicians such as the internationally lauded award-winning singer Sibongile Khumalo, the Botshabelo String Orchestra, the Bloemfontein Children’s Choir and the choir of the Bartimea School for the Deaf and Blind.

Tickets for this event – attended by 4 500 people – were sold out within hours, confirming the respect and support South Africans have for Ms Winfrey’s work in Africa and internationally. While at our university, Ms Winfrey also visited our International Institution for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice. The awarding of Ms Winfrey's well-deserved honorary doctorate is another milestone in our university's proud history.

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