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Devina Harry accepted into the Kader Asmal Fellowship Programme

01 September 2020 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo Supplied

Devina Harry Kader Asmal Fellowship — The UFS’ Devina Harry was accepted into the Kader Asmal Fellowship Programme.

The UFS’ own Devina Harry is set to travel to Ireland in September 2020 to begin a year-long Fellowship Programme for a Master of Business. As one of 20 students selected from the African continent, Devina was recently accepted into the Kader Asmal Fellowship Programme, which affords her the opportunity to study in Ireland during the 2020/21 academic year.

A research assistant in the Department of Business Management, Devina holds an Honours in Marketing. “I am very grateful to be awarded this scholarship and excited about this new journey,” says Devina, who is scheduled to begin the programme in October 2020. “I hope to come back to South Africa and contribute to my field of study,” she says.

Devina went through a rigorous application process and had to meet the criteria for selection, one of which is having a minimum average grade point of 75% for her honours.

Prof Brownhilder Nene, Head of Department: Business Management, gave Devina some words of encouragement: “You will never know how far you can go unless you try. Thank you, Devina, for stepping out of your comfort zone and getting this scholarship.”

The Kader Asmal Fellowship Programme is a South African strand of a broader Ireland-Africa Fellows Programme managed by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It was set up in 2012 in honour of the late Professor Kader Asmal, and is a fully-funded scholarship opportunity for those who want to develop skills and knowledge to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa.

News Archive

Chakalaka can have side effects for these patients

2010-06-24

Chakalaka is a sauce many South Africans cannot imagine a meal without, but research at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has shown that it can have serious side effects and even compromise the treatment of leukaemia patients.

Prof. Vernon Louw from the Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty says that tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are a new group of drugs providing targeted therapy for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). It vastly contributes to the survival of patients, but it has side effects like vasodilatation. Research has shown that spices like chakalaka may aggravate vasodilatation (widening of veins) with patients on these drugs.

“These spices produce serious oedema (water retention) and headaches. We have found that discontinuing the intake of spices allows some patients to maintain therapeutic doses of TKIs.” Chakalaka contains mainly garlic and chilli.

CML represents up to 20% of all leukaemia patients in South Africa and up to 450 new cases are reported every year.

In the study symptoms of severe headache and oedema disappeared within days of discontinuing the use of chakalaka.

Prof. Louw says it is important for oncologists to ask their patients about their intake of spices and garlic when they are on TKIs. It is also advisable to enquire about the use of complementary alternative medicine as the interaction of these medicines in cancer treatment is not known.

Media Release
Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
23 June 2010

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