Faculty of Health Sciences
School of Health Systems and Public health
School of Health Systems and Public Health
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most severe of the conditions that make up the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). South Africa has the dubious reputation of having the highest detected rates of FAS in high-risk communities in the world. The main disabilities experienced by people with FAS are low intellect, limited physical growth and poor social skills. These, in combination, have serious effects on a person’s ability to learn, live and work independently, and predispose a person to risky health-related behaviour. On a community level, people with FAS are a burden to the educational and social services, as well as to their own families. However, reducing the rates of FASDs, especially in communities where alcohol use by women is the norm, is very difficult and requires a comprehensive approach.
The research project is a collaborative intervention project between the School of Health Systems and Public Health of the University of Pretoria, the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine of the University of Cape Town, and the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit of the Medical Research Council.
A research grant was awarded to this consortium in 2005 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, USA) for the development of a comprehensive model to prevent FAS in rural and urban areas of South Africa (2005–2009). Two research sites are being used, Tshwane Municipality in Gauteng and the West Coast in the Western Cape. A formative phase provided both quantitative and qualitative data on the context and behaviours that predispose a woman to an alcohol-exposed pregnancy in these sites. The intervention phase included working with communities to raise awareness of how to prevent FAS, training service providers to better identify and support women at risk, and to identify possible cases of FAS, and a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of motivational interviewing and life skills training in reducing high-risk behaviour in women before pregnancy, in both sites.
Contact person: Mrs KM Rendall-Mkosi.
In terms of HIV and TB, a chapter on quality of life and financial measures in HIV/AIDS in southern Africa was published in Handbook of disease burdens and quality of life measures by M Bachmann, Goedele Louwagie and L Fairall. In addition, Goedele Louwagie, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Pretoria, the Medical Research Council and the Foundation for Professional Development, obtained a R500 000 grant from the National Department of Health to execute a study on TB and HIV collaborative activities.
One of the MSc Epidemiology students, Dr Simbarashe Takuva, under the supervision of Goedele Louwagie, is busy with a retrospective cohort analysis of antiretroviral treatment modifications at the referral HIV clinic in Mbabane, Swaziland.
With regard to women and alcohol use, the South African Medical Journal accepted an article on factors associated with female high-risk drinking in a rural and urban South African site for publication in the form of a scientific letter.
Contact person: Dr GMC Louwagie.
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