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18 April 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin
The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice IRSJ) has initiated a Social Justice Week at the University of the Free State (UFS), which started on Friday 12 April  until Wednesday 17 April 2019. 

Ten key events took place during the week. It ranged from dialogues, workshops, talk shows, debates, and interactive displays and events on issues of multilingualism and diversity, social innovation, engaged scholarship, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, gender sensitisation, sexual consent, sexual preparedness, universal access, disability, anti-discrimination, and security.

There was also a round-table discussion on 17 April 2019 with various UFS stakeholders on off-campus student security as well as an inter-institutional discussion on the same topic. The UFS Debating Society will take on the topic of the UFS Language Policy, while Olga Barends from the Free State Centre for Human Rights will host a dialogue on sexual consent.

The IRSJ has also designed and implemented SOJO-VATION: Social Innovation/ Social Change, which strives to create a foundational platform where ideas of social justice, innovation, and engaged scholarship at the UFS and in society can be hosted. SOJO-VATION partners with the Office for Student Leadership, Development, and Community Engagement.

The collaborating partners for the Social Justice Week includes various UFS stakeholders such as the Sasol library, the Gender and Sexual Equity Office, UFS Protection Services, the Free State Centre for Human Rights, the Student Representative Council (SRC), the Office for Student Leadership Development, Kovsie Innovation, GALA, the FFree State Centre for Human Rights, SRC Associations, the Office for Student Governance, Kovsie Innovate, Start-Up-Grind, EVC, EBL, Community Engagement, the Institutional Transformation Plan (ITP) Dialogues Office, Residence Dialogues, UFS Debating Society, Debate Afrika!, the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS), and the Gateway Office. 

News Archive

UFS cardiac team does pioneering work
2017-10-29

Description: ' 000 Cardiac Pioneers Tags: Cardiac Pioneers 

“With the use of endomyocardial biopsies, the team hopes to treat viruses unique
to Southern Africa, as well as other underlying causes of dilated cardiomyopathy.”

Photo: iStock

Members of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Cardiac team had various achievements at national and international level this year. The Robert WM Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre in the Faculty of Health Sciences has commenced with a pioneering research project regarding idiopathic dilating cardiomyopathy.

With an Afrocentric research focus, Prof Francis Smit, Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UFS and Head of the Frater Centre, describes dilating cardiomyopathy as a heart muscle disease that is quite common, particularly among people of African descent. The disease weakens the heart muscle, which in turn leads to heart failure.

“To date there is no curable treatment for this condition, and 50% of patients who have shown heart failure, died within a period of five years. The causes of this condition have been unknown in the majority of patients. But over the past few years major strides have been made, where virus infections of the heart muscle, or myocarditis, have been identified as a possible underlying cause. Various genetic diseases are also linked to it,” says Prof Smit.

According to Prof Mokoali Makotoko, Head of the Department of Cardiology, more than 1 500 new cases of heart failure are identified at the Universitas Academic Hospital annually, of which approximately 30% are attributed to cardiomyopathy. “With the use of endomyocardial biopsies, the team hopes to treat viruses unique to Southern Africa, as well as other underlying causes of dilated cardiomyopathy.”

The study is a project that flows from Prof Makotoko’s PhD. The project is being run with Prof Heinz-Peter Schultheiss of the Charité University and the Institute for Cardiac Diagnostics and Therapy in Berlin, Germany.

 "More than 1 500 new cases of heart failure are identified at the Universitas Academic Hospital annually, of which approximately 30% are attributed to cardiomyopathy."

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