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25 November 2020 Photo Anja Aucamp
Prof Colin Chasi outside Centenary Complex (Anja Aucamp)
Prof Colin Chasi is the Director of the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice at the UFS.
The 2020 programme around the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence will be novel in that it will be run online. “For each person to register and log into the various programmes is a small step. But each such step makes a big difference by saying that the lives of survivors matter and by underscoring that gender-based violence will not be tolerated at the UFS,” says Prof Colin Chasi, Director of the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice (UICSJ) at the UFS.

Women and girl children have experienced increased violence in the time of the COVID-19 lockdown, states the UN Secretary General's report, Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. In South Africa, there have been reports of a scourge of rape in the post-school education and training sector. At the UFS, these developments have challenged the Gender Equity and Anti-Discrimination Office (GEADO) to come up with innovative online interventions.

In 2019, the University of the Free State (UFS) established the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice (formerly known as the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, founded in 2009). The GEADO was launched on 8 April 2019 and was incorporated into the unit to run a cross-functional Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and to organise programmes that combat gender-based violence and other forms of gender injustice.

“We have been able to offer our services with minimal disruption throughout the year,” says Geraldine Lengau, a Bloemfontein Campus-based GEADO officer.

“Most exciting for us is that we have taken the lockdown as an opportunity to expand the scope of ways in which we engage with students and communities,” notes Chelepe Mocwana, a GEADO officer on the South Campus. “GEADO has offered a number of online webinars and seminars, and the university has made telephonic services available that support, for example, the mental health of survivors of sexual violence.”

“On the Qwaqwa Campus, where we still have some problems with consistent access to data networks, we were pleased to see that our webinars have been well-subscribed to by students and staff members,” reports Siya Magayana, who is the GEADO officer on this campus.

“Each such step makes a big difference by saying that the
lives of survivors matter and by underscoring that
gender-based violence will not be tolerated at the UFS.”
—Prof Colin Chasi, Director of the UICSJ.

Since 1991, activists around the world have annually coordinated activities around the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. The 16 days of activism begin on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and run until 10 December, which is International Human Rights Day. The start and end dates signify that the fight to eliminate violence against women advances human rights for all.

Activities to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence will be advertised on various UFS communication platforms.

News Archive

UFS to monitor the use of ARV-drugs on pregnant women and children
2004-12-08

The University of the Free State (UFS) is to establish a Pharmacovigilance Centre that will monitor the effects of Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs on HIV positive pregnant women and children starting early in the new year.

The UFS is one of only two institutions chosen by the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, to establish such an ARV monitoring centre.

The other centre will be based at Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA) and will concentrate mainly on monitoring the effects of the drugs on adults.

“The establishment of the UFS’s Pharmaconvigilance Centre forms part of government’s Comprehensive Plan on HIV and AIDS, often termed the roll-out plan for ARV drugs. The centre’s primary responsibility will be to specifically monitor the use of these drugs in pregnant women, and children under the age of 13,” said Prof Andrew Walubo of the UFS’s Department of Pharmacology.

“Although most of the side effects of ARV drugs have been identified in other countries, it has now become critical to identify the side effects amongst the South African population. This is important because many people will be exposed to the drugs within a short time. Our aim is so identify the most common side effects and make recommendations for the prevention thereof. The centre will help in detecting the risk of using anti-retroviral drugs in pregnancy and children, and prevention of adverse drug reactions,” said Prof Walubo.

According to Prof Walubo 12 drugs will be monitored – these drugs will be selected according to the patient’s profile.

The centre will comprise of two components: A pregnancy registry, which will focus on a new-born child up until two months and a pediatric registry, which will focus on children who are born of mothers who used ARV drugs and children using ARV drugs.

According to Prof Walubo, the Pharmaconvigilance Centre will also be responsible for offering relevant technical advice, training and selected research on ARV drugs in these patients.

The centre will be fully sponsored by the national Department of Health. It will be based in the UFS’s Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacology, and will be run in collaboration with experts from different departments in the faculty.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
8 December 2004

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