Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April July May June August September October November December
Previous Archive
01 March 2023 | Story Kian Terwin | Photo Supplied
bone marrow drive
From the left: Dr M Moller, Dr C Steyn (Clinical Haematology), Dr N Motloung, Dr J Malherbe (Head of Clinical Unit: Clinical Haematology), Dr A van Marle (Haematopathologist), Dr E Bowen, Dr Q van Staden, and Dr T Gutu
Every 72 minutes, someone in South Africa is diagnosed with a blood cancer or blood disorder such as leukaemia, aplastic anaemia, and sickle cell disease. Often, a blood stem-cell transplant from a matching donor is their only hope for a cure.

The University of the Free State, in association with PathCare and DKMS Africa, will run a bone marrow donation registration drive from 1 to 3 March 2023. With this drive, we hope to set new records in bone marrow donation registration. The process is a simple, non-painful swab in your mouth and filling out a form that will take about two minutes.  

During this drive, blood stem-cell donors will be recruited for the DKMS Africa registry, so that patients in need of a life-saving stem cell transplant can find matching donors. Everyone (students and staff) is welcome and will be rewarded with chocolate for their registration. In addition, our goal is also to establish a community of well-informed and committed stem-cell donors.

The UFS hosted its first donor recruitment drive in October 2022, recruiting 434 donors. This was record-breaking, since other universities did not reach this number of registrations. We aim to surpass the previous year’s registrations, since recruitment will take place on the Bloemfontein Campus and in the Faculty of Health Sciences. 

The drive will take place on the following days:
Wednesday 1 March 2023:  Thakaneng Bridge 
Thursday 2 March 2023:   Thakaneng Bridge 
Friday 3 March 2023:  Francois Retief Foyer 

Let us fight THE FIGHT AGAINST BLOOD CANCER and other BLOOD DISORDERS. Come and register as a blood stem-cell donor. The more donors we have on the registry, the greater the chance of helping people who need a life-saving stem cell transplant. TOGETHER WE CAN DO MORE.

News Archive

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative
2006-05-10

At the conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue were from the left Dr Aldo Stroebel (senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate), Dr Edith Vries (acting Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Development Trust) and Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director: UFS Research Development Directorate).

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

Two staff members of the University of the Free State (UFS) have been appointed as members of the advisory board of the national programme for the creation of small enterprises and jobs in the second economy.  This programme forms part of government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA).

Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director of the UFS Research Development Directorate and Dr Aldo Stroebel, senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate, are working with a team of experts from the UFS on a draft implementation strategy for the national programme.  Both Prof Swanepoel and Dr Stroebel are also associated to the UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
 
“The strategy is being developed in collaboration with institutions like the Independent Development Trust, the Department of Agriculture, the National Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry,” says Prof  Swanepoel.  

The other team members of the UFS are Prof Basie Wessels, Director of the  Mangaung-University Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) and Mr  Benedict Mokoena, project manager at the MUCPP.

Dr Stroebel was also member of the organising committee of a conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue that was recently presented in Johannesburg.  The conference was attended by more than 400 delegates from government departments, higher-education institutions and civil society, including Dr Kobus Laubscher, member of the UFS Council.

The conference was facilitated by Ms Vuyo Mahlati, previously from the WK Kellogg Foundation’s Africa programme and opened by Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.   

“The colloquium formed the basis of an induction workshop during which a group of 150 individuals (50 teams of three) from all nine provinces, identified to initiate the implementation of the national programme, was trained and orientated towards an induction manual in collaboration with Hand-in-Hand, an Indian counterpart,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Dr Stroebel and Mr Benedict Mokoena formed part of the team to conceptualise and finalise this training manual.  The induction training includes a case study of a successful community self-help partnership model, namely the MUCPP at the UFS. Prof Wessels and Mr Mokoena are both playing a leading role in the further development of subsequent training initiatives throughout South Africa, in partnership with the relevant provincial departments.

“The involvement of the UFS in the programme is a compliment to us.  It reflects the value government sees in the use of academics and experts in the management of the ASGI-SA initiative.  It is also an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa and in the transformation and change that is taking place in our country,” says Prof Swanepoel.  

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
10 May 2006

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept