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21 August 2019
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Story Thabo Kessah
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Photo Thabo Kessah
Keafon Jumbam is gearing herself for the institutional Three Minute Thesis competition.
Keafon Jumbam is a PhD candidate whose research on food and foxes has won her the first prize of R8 000 in the recent Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences’ Postgraduate Flash Fact Competition. Her brief in the competition was to
summarise her research in three minutes, using only one static slide.“The competition started at departmental level on both campuses. The idea was that the best student in each department is then selected to go for the faculty-level competition on the Bloemfontein Campus. Summarising the entire research into three minutes is no easy feat, but a great way to gauge how well one has mastered your work,” she said.
Far-reaching research
“Thought-provoking presentations on research, ranging from technology to track academic progress, traditional medicine as alternatives to expensive prescriptions, and suggesting insects as food alternatives to curb hunger in this era of severe droughts and food shortages. The competition was tough, but it highlighted the level of research competitiveness on the Qwaqwa Campus. I hope that more students will join in such opportunities to build themselves up and to showcase our research output as Qwaqwa students,” added Jumbam from the
Department of Zoology and Entomology.
Institutional finals
Her next challenge is the institutional competition to be held on 23 August 2019, which could qualify her for the national competition.
Neonatal Care Unit receives donation to expand capacity
2015-10-28
 With the best care and technology available,
the survival rate of premature
babies is about 85%. The neonatal intensive
care unit at the Universitas hospital can now
expand its capacity thanks to a donation of
R1 million by the Discovery fund.
From the left is Prof André Venter.
Head: Department of Paediatrics and
Child Health at the UFS, and mrs Ruth Lewin,
Head: Corporate Sustainability at Discovery.
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The smallest people need the greatest care. This care is being provided by the neonatal unit in the Children’s Wing of the Universitas Hospital. This project of the University of the Free State (UFS), under the leadership of Prof Andre Venter, has led to several miracles regarding child health since its inception.
Now, thanks to a donation of R1 million rand from the Discovery fund, this unit can expand its capacity and treat more premature babies.
About 14% of babies in South Africa are born before the 37th week of pregnancy. These babies are born with a very low birth weight, and are in need of critical care. The neonatal intensive-care unit at Universitas Hospital is currently equipped to take care of about 14 premature babies at a time, from birth to discharge. However, because of the high incidence of premature births in the hospital’s service area, the unit needs about 45 beds.
The aim of the Children’s Wing Project is to expand the neonatal intensive-care unit in order to meet the demands of the hospital’s service area, which reaches as far as the Southern Cape. The Discovery Fund recently donated R1 million to the project, which will be used to expand the capacity of the neonatal intensive-care unit.
“With the best care and technology available, the survival rate of premature babies is about 85%. Without this, half of all premature babies would die,” says Prof Venter, Head: Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the UFS.
“This is the reason why private and public partnerships, such as the one with Discovery, are essential to make specialised services available to the most vulnerable people. Discovery has made a significant contribution to the project without which we would not have been able to expand the capacity of the unit