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18 March 2024
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Story VALENTINO NDABA
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Photo SUPPLIED
Mark your calendar: The Faculty of Law's Human Rights celebration is approaching!
In commemoration of Human Rights Day, the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) is marking the occasion with a series of special events. These include a panel discussion titled Contribution of Sir Kentridge to Human Rights in South Africa and Beyond, and a public lecture titled Thirty Years of Human Rights in South Africa? Any Reason to Celebrate? – delivered by Emeritus Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs, promising a day of profound reflection and insight.
Date: 18 March 2024
Time: 10:00
Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus
Join us for an insightful panel discussion on the Contribution of Sir Kentridge to Human Rights in South Africa and Beyond. Panellists will include esteemed retired Constitutional Court judges. After the panel discussion, we will gather for a luncheon.
Don't miss the afternoon’s thought-provoking public lecture by Emeritus Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs.
Click here for the programme.
Otorhinolaryngology research hopes to decrease morbidity
2016-10-04

Prof Riaz Seedat, Head of the
Department of
Otorhinolaryngology at the UFS
Prof Riaz Seedat, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the UFS is a world-renowned ear, nose and throat specialist and researcher. He is also a National Research Foundation C3 rated scientist.
He is conducting his research in ear, nose and throat (ENT) pathology in a developing world setting, particularly focusing on recurrent respiratory papillomatosis and other ENT conditions. “This condition is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), infective conditions as well as allergic rhinitis,” said Prof Seedat.
Current research is aimed at further describing the epidemiology of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, identification of the HPV variants responsible for causing the condition and markers of disease aggressiveness.
The research has led to various international partnerships such as the multicentre collaborative studies, “Genetic Susceptibility to Papilloma-induced Voice Disturbance” at the Centre for Genomic Sciences at the Allegheny-Singer Research Institute in Pittsburgh, United States, and the HPV6/11 Global Diversity Consortium at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.
Although most head and neck squamous cell carcinomas are caused by excessive tobacco and alcohol use, there is an increasing body of evidence to show that HPV causes a subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. However, there are few studies on the role of HPV in head and neck neoplasms in developing countries.
“Through the research we have shown that recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, caused by HPV, is not as rare in South Africa as it is in developed countries and that patients usually present respiratory papillomatosis at an advanced stage when the condition is life-threatening,” said Prof Seedat.
“It is hoped that this research will help us to address the morbidity caused by ENT conditions common in developing countries,” said Prof Seedat.