Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Dr Mutshidzi Mulondo wins prestigious Global Health Award

17 October 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

Dr Mutshidzi Mulondo, an academic in the Division of Public Health within the Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of the Free State (UFS), has won a prestigious Global Health Award at the margins of the Global Health Summit in London, the UK.

Dr Mulondo, who is a Novartis Reimagining Healthcare Scholar and a Visiting Scholar at the Beaver College of Health Sciences at Appalachian State University, in the US, was a finalist in two categories: ‘Mental Health and Well-being’ and ‘Rising Star’. She won the Zenith Global Health Award under the category ‘Mental Health and Well-being’. The awards ceremony took place on 28 September and saw health professionals and academics gather in Europe for the auspicious occasion.

“This nomination and selection are an honour that bears testament to my dedication and commitment to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being). I hope this win serves as inspiration to young people, particularly to young women in academia and in the sciences,” says Dr Mulondo. The awards are an esteemed platform renowned for celebrating global recognition and excellence, fostering collaboration and innovation in the healthcare sector. They further serve as recognition for contributions made through education, research and/or technology and innovation.

Eco-anxiety

Dr Mulondo, who was invited to attend the summit for the first time, joined a panel of speakers on the session theme ‘mental health and climate change’ where she shared insights on eco-anxiety – the intersection of climate change and mental health which was coined by Albrecht as the chronic fear of environmental change.

Research by the McKinsey Health Institute, says Dr Mulondo, a fellow of the UFS Emerging Scholar Accelerator Programme (ESAP) and member of the UNESCO AG for Women in Science, indicates that more than 75% of young people are pessimistic about the future due to climate change. Most young people in the activism frontlines experience activist burn-out from consistent campaigning, while others experience eco-gaslighting from those who feel climate change is a non-issue. These negative emotions are further exacerbated by young people’s exposure to social media of constant images and conversations about environmental degradation due to climate change.

Pact for the future

Dr Mulondo flew to London from New York after participating in the 79th United Nations General Assembly’s Summit of the Future and Science Summit, as well as the New York Climate Week. She further provided insights into the adoption of the Pact for the Future which was adopted during the Summit of the Future. “With only 17% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets on track to be achieved by 2030, 18% stagnant and 17% regressed to pre-2015 when the goals were first adopted (SDG Report 2024), Mental Health still remains among 10 global health issues to track according to the World Health Organisation (WHO),” says Dr Mulondo.

“The Summit of the Future, which is regarded as a once-in-a-generation high-level event,” she continues, “was aimed at establishing a new global consensus to safeguard the present and future generations. Current challenges such as health pandemics, political unrest, and climatic changes were factored into discussions to keep apace with the changing world in the adoption of the Pact for the Future”.

Recommendations and mitigation efforts should focus on encouraging those experiencing eco-anxiety to focus on joining collective action efforts (i.e. campaigns to clean ocean and beach environments (etc,) so that they feel they are doing something towards saving the planet. “This will help alleviate the feelings of ‘hopelessness’ which some experience from not knowing what to do about the environmental degradation. Furthermore, intergenerational collaboration is necessary for young people to voice their concerns and innovative ideas on the issue, while the older generation listens and further shares their lived wisdom. Ultimately, collective support (Ubuntu) is what is needed as part of the mitigation efforts,” concludes Dr Mulondo.

News Archive

SA cannot sustain momentum - Boesak

2010-09-02

Photo: Stephen Collett

South Africa finds it increasingly difficult to live up to the challenges facing it as a nation because of its failure to meet its democratic ideals and possibilities, peace and lack of self-belief.

This was according to renowned cleric and former political activist, Dr Allan Boesak, who recently delivered the CR Swart Memorial Lecture, the oldest memorial lecture at the University of the Free State (UFS). His lecture was on the topic Creating moments, sustaining momentum.

He said South Africa had plenty of opportunities to show the whole world what was possible if all the people of this country joined hands and worked together to build a truly united society. However, he said, the country somehow invariably contrived to find its way out of these wonderful possibilities.

He cited events of historical significance like Codesa, the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first democratic president of South Africa, the assassination of South African Communist Party leader, Chris Hani; and the rugby and soccer world cups.
To drive his point home about this dismal failure of the country to “sustain momentum”, he alluded to the current public servants’ strike that is gradually crippling public service.

“The public servants’ strike was neither unexpected nor is it completely unjustifiable. Most of us have understanding for the frustration of teachers and health workers. Their demands resonate with most of us, and I think that it is scandalous of SACP fat cats to tell workers to “stop crying like babies,” he said.

He also added to the criticism of the much-maligned decision of the government to spend billions of taxpayers’ money to purchase weapons when there was “no discernible military threat” to the country. He said the greatest threat to the security of the country was poverty, inequality and social cohesion.

“As for the argument that arms sales bring in foreign exchange – how can we be instrumental in killing the poor elsewhere with the intention of feeding our poor, and then our ill-gained profits feed only the already well-fed?” he asked.
“Can we see the hopeless contradiction, the total impossibility of being both the apostle of peace and a merchant of death?”

He also lambasted the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy of the government which he said benefited only those connected to the political aristocracy.

“It couples with the unashamed, in-your-face display of wealth by the privileged elite in this country, the crass materialism of the so-called “bling generation”, and the casual carelessness with which promises to the poor are given and treated. It is only the public symptom of the deep-seated scorn our political elites feel for the poor,” he said.

He said the government’s disdain to the poor was “setting fire to our future”.

“The anger of people on the ground can no longer be denied or ignored, and little by little, the leadership articulating and directing this anger is being estranged from politically elected leadership, and even more disturbing, from our democratic processes,” he said.

He concluded that the country’s difficulty in dealing with race and racism was putting the reconciliation process kick-started by Mandela just over a decade ago, under a threat.

Complete Lecture

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

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