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01 April 2025 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
Health care
Those who took part in the community engagements are: From left Dr Kamo Mothibi from the UFS, Irene Mokgadi from CUT, Dr Mosebi Thejane (UFS), Ahlume Nkumbesi (UFS), Dr Lebogang Mogongoa (CUT), Minnie Mbokazi (UFS), Dr Happy Phage (CUT), Dr Phindile Shangase (UFS) and Teboho Mhlanga from the Free State Department of Health. Seated in from are Meshack Mothupi, driver from CUT, and Sipho Zulu (UFS).

The Division of Public Health at the University of the Free State (UFS) together with the Central University of Technology (CUT), and the Free State Department of Health’s Disability Unit, held community engagements recently by visiting rehabilitation services in Bloemfontein. 

These engagements were part of the co-funded project: Capacity building for the use of implementation science in various typologies in low- and middle-income countries for the prevention and/or management of the quadruple burden of disease. This was phase two in this project with the last phase including a symposium that is expected to take place on 1 April on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

Qhomane Mhlanga, a representative from the Free State Department of Health who is actively involved in this project, and her team, identified rehabilitation services for a case study. They also identified stakeholders to be visited during this community engagement in order to gather information on their engagement with Mangaung University of the Free State Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP). The team also visited stakeholders at the Phelang Disability Home, Carel du Toit Special School, and the Department of Education (Inclusive Education). 

 

Research to improve health care service

Dr Phindile Shangase from the Division of Public Health, and Principal Investigator at UFS, says the purpose of community visits was to engage service providers on the implementation strategies. This includes analysing alignment of implementation strategies with the policy (National Rehabilitation Policy 2000, Free State Rehabilitation Policy Guidelines, Framework and Strategy for Disability and Rehabilitation Service in South Africa 2015-2020) as well as identifying facilitators and barriers to implementation.

“It is the intention of the Division of Public Health, UFS to continue collaborations with stakeholders in implementation science research to improve health care service delivery and outcomes. The Division of Public Health also intends to add postgraduate research studies on implementation science in the near future.

“The visit to the clinic sought to establish the services provided by the rehabilitation unit, the referral system, and how the unit collaborates with external stakeholders to enhance the service. We gained knowledge of categories of healthcare professionals in rehabilitation services, e.g., occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, audiologists, orthotists and prosthetists, rehabilitation doctors, optometrists, community rehabilitation workers. Some of these professionals are not available in the facilities visited,” says Dr Shangase. 

It was identified that, she continues, early hearing screening services for children are not available at healthcare facilities. Early hearing screening helps identify hearing defects which could be managed early to avoid complications that lead to hampered education and poor quality of life.


Outcome of engagements

Before the community outreach began, the UFS/CUT team, in collaboration with the Department of Health, convened to discuss strategies for navigating the Implementation Science project. The meeting focused on identifying key stakeholders and developing approaches essential for the project's success, drawing insights from the Department of Health's Mangaung Metro implementation science case study. 

The team identified five primary approaches for the project: Health, Education, Livelihood, Social, and Empowerment. Additionally, the discussion highlighted both the barriers and enablers related to each approach, which are crucial for ensuring effective project implementation and sustainable outcomes. Free State rehabilitation policy guidelines document was also applied to evaluate the case study.

According to Dr Shangase, the outreach will help with drafting of an intervention plan to address policy implementation gaps identified. The information gathered will assist in commissioning further research to improve health outcomes. “The intention is to collaborate with the Department of Health to work on past research outputs, presented during research day conferences, for implementation in healthcare facilities. Newly identified research areas will also prompt projects in healthcare facilities, led by the academic partners, UFS, Division of Public Health as well as the Department of Health Sciences, CUT.”

News Archive

UFS Faculty of Theology and Jonathan Edwards Centre at Yale University forge strategic partnership
2009-06-10

 
Prof. Francois Tolmie, Dean of the UFS’s Faculty of Theology.
Photo: Supplied


The Faculty of Theology at the University of the Free State (UFS) will establish a Jonathan Edwards Centre for Southern Africa, affiliated with the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University in New Haven in the United States of America.

This strategic partnership exemplifies the vision of the Faculty of Theology to be an internationally renowned theological and training faculty.

The UFS Jonathan Edwards Centre will serve as a research, education and publication hub for the study of Edwards and evangelical history and develop links with the international academic community.

Prof. Francois Tolmie, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the UFS, said, “I welcome the plans to pay sustained critical attention to Edwards’s thought. Jonathan Edwards was an important American theologian, philosopher and more specifically America's greatest contributor to mission theology in Southern Africa.”

Dr Kenneth Minkema, Executive Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, adds: “The establishment of the Jonathan Edwards Center Southern Africa at the UFS in Bloemfontein is a significant expansion of Edwards scholarship and will serve widely both academia and the church.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), pastor, revivalist, Christian philosopher, missionary, and president of Princeton University, is widely regarded as North America’s greatest theologian. He is the subject of intense scholarly interest because of his significance as an historical figure and the profound legacy he left on America’s religious, political and intellectual landscapes.

In recent years, a rapidly growing interest in Edwards as theologian has brought the man and his writings onto the world stage, pressing beyond the popular and more parochial image of Edwards primarily as American preacher and American historic figure. Increasingly, his writings are being consulted by religious leaders, pastors, and churches around the world, spurred by a growing recognition of the fervency and universality of the Edwards message and the acumen with which he appraised religious experience.

This interest in Edwards globally has been fuelled in part by the work of the Jonathan Edwards Centre at Yale University, whose sole mission is to support inquiry into the life, writings, and legacy of Jonathan Edwards by providing resources that encourage critical appraisal of the historical importance and contemporary relevance of America’s premier theologian. The primary means to achieve this is with the The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online, a digital learning environment for research, education and publication that presents all of Edwards’s writings, along with helpful editorial materials that allow the reader to examine Edwards's thought in incredibly powerful, useful ways. The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online 2.0 is accessible through the Centre’s website at: www.edwards.yale.edu.

Media Release:
Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
10 June 2009

 

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