Week ahead 25 – 29 March 2019
“Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers,
but by relentless struggle” – Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, “Writings and Speeches: A Ready Reference Manual”.
25 March 2019
Spotlight Editors Anso Thom and Marcus Low, Researcher Thuthukile Mbatha, Videographer Raphelang Ntamu, Field Researcher Patrick Mdletshe and Head of Communication Ntsiki Mpulo will be attending the Spotlight national forum on “How to Improve TB Prevention in South Africa”. This event will be held at the Cape Milner Hotel in Cape Town. Experts from research organisations, government, the South African National AIDS Council and civil society will provide input. You can engage in the conversation by following Spotlight and/or SECTION27 on Twitter.
Thuthukile Mbatha will be attending a consultative meeting about two HIV prevention studies– DELIVER (MTN-042), for pregnant women, and B-PROTECTED (MTN-043), for women who are breastfeeding. The meeting will take place over two days, 25 to 26 March 2019 at Balalaika hotel in Sandton. The meeting will give stakeholders the opportunity to share their views with the researchers who will be conducting these studies well before their anticipated start later this year or early 2020. The clinical researchers want to hear from stakeholders about important next steps regarding the conduct of the DELIVER and B-PROTECTED studies here in South Africa these include regulatory matters, study implementation or community engagement.
26 March 2019
Nkululeko Conco, one of our health attorneys, will be participating in the strategic litigation for sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) advocacy think tank hosted by Hivos in Johannesburg. The specific focus will be on how to use strategic litigation to achieve lasting adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights changes in various communities throughout the regions of East and Southern Africa. The engagement is expected to last two days.
Legal Researcher Motheo Brodie and Education Attorney Sheniece Linderboom will be facilitating a session at the Activists and Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) Training on SRHR Policy Analysis in Tzaneen from 26 to 28 March 2019. The workshop is hosted by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) Limpopo and the purpose is to capacitate TAC Activists and CSOs on SRHR. Our session will be an analysis of SRHR polices in schools, drawing on practical challenges.
Legal Researcher Tendai Mafuma will be part of a panel at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study (JIAS) “State of Dis-ease – a transdisciplinary workshop on SA health and illness” (14h00 – 15h30) conference focusing on “Care as Work”. Tendai’s topic will centre on community health care work. Other panellists will include Lauren Baldwin-Ragaven (Wits Family Medicine), Job Zwane (Wits History Workshop) and Leanne Brady (UCT Health Policy & Systems). The session will be chaired by Gloria Maimela (Wits Reproductive Health Institute). You can read more on this here.
Patrick Mdletshe will be attending a South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) civil society meeting, which will be attended by all 18 civil sector leaders and provincial co- chairpersons. The meeting will be held at Kopanong Hotel. This meeting aim taking stock of progress of NSP implementation in the country and to track provincial implementation plans.
27 March 2019
Former Executive Director Mark Heywood will be speaking at the first session of day 3 of the JIAS “State of Dis-ease – a transdisciplinary workshop on SA health and illness” conference (10h30 – 12h30). The panel will focus on “the Biggest Health Stories of the Year”, and will include Dylan Bush (Bhekisisa), Vuyo Mkhize (City Press) and Sibongile Nkosi (Health-e). Pontso Pilane (Health-e) will chair the panel.
Patrick Mdletshe will be attending the eNCA Town Hall Debate at UKZN Westville Campus. The meeting will be attended by civil society, including TAC KZN activists. Five political Parties (ANC, EFF, IFP, NFP, DA) are also expected to attend. eNCA will be facilitating the dialogue in a bid to afford community members the chance to pose questions to political leaders on various issues.
28 March 2019
Patrick Mdletshe will be attending a National Department of Health (NDoH)/PEPFAR best practices meeting on linking HIV patients to care. He will be presenting under the topic of District Structure Plan (DSPs) and how the NDoH and PEPFAR can work with civil society and/or Community Healthcare Workers to increase access to and return to care. The meeting will be held at the Pretoria Southern Sun hotel.
30 March 2019
Mark Heywood has been invited by the South African Psychoanalytical Association to an Interdisciplinary Workshop for Mental Health and other Caring Professionals. The event will consist of a number of round table and panel discussions where guests will hold critical, interactive discussions on why advocacy is important, how to engage in it, and how to do so ethically.
Participants include Bharti Patel (SA Mental Health Federation), a rep from the Rural Health Advocacy Project, Prof Lesley Robertson from the National Mental Health Advocacy Project (NMAHP) (TBC), Members of the Life Esidimeni Group, Latiefa Mobara (executive director the Press Council of South Africa), and Prof Sheila Meintjies (Wits Associate Prof Political Studies).
They will be in dialogue on issues of advocacy and ethics, policies and practices that we, as mental and other health care practitioners, engage with on a daily basis (including the NHI, the Mental Health Care Act, and the implications of the Life Esidimeni Arbitration).
The week that was
21 March was Human Rights Day. 24 March was World Tuberculosis Day. SECTION27 marked it taking part in the second Human Rights Festival, hosted by Constitution Hill. The organisation opened “The Price of Gold” exhibition by award-winning photographer Thom Pierce, had a stand where people could engage us about our work and engaged in a panel discussion in partnership with SERI about learners with disabilities, where we launched our talking book.
You can still view the Silicosis exhibition until 19 April 2019 at Number Four Prison, Constitution Hill.
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