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The incidence of skin cancer in relation to climate change in South Africa

- Wright, Caradee Y., Norval, Mary, Kapwata, Thandi, Du Preez, David Jean, Wernecke, Bianca, Tod, Bianca M., Visser, Willem I.

Environmental health practitioners potentially play a key role in helping communities adapt to climate change

- Shezi, Busisiwe, Mathee, Angela, Siziba, Wellington, Street, Renée A., Naicker, Nisha, Kunene, Zamantimande, Wright, Caradee Y.

  • Authors: Shezi, Busisiwe , Mathee, Angela , Siziba, Wellington , Street, Renée A. , Naicker, Nisha , Kunene, Zamantimande , Wright, Caradee Y.
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Climate change , Environmental health , South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/397373 , uj:33026 , Citation: Shezi, B. et al. 2019. Environmental health practitioners potentially play a key role in helping communities adapt to climate change. BMC Public Health (2019) 19:54 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6378-5
  • Description: Abstract: Background: Vulnerable population groups in South Africa, especially those living in poverty, young children, women, the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases, are susceptible to new or exacerbated health threats resulting from climate change. Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) can play an important role in helping communities adapt to climate change health impacts, however, effective coordination of this requires further understanding of their roles in implementing climate change-related adaptation actions in communities. Methods: A cross-sectional survey using convenience sampling was undertaken at the January 2017 conference for EHPs hosted by the South African Institute of Environmental Health in Cape Town. All EHPs who attended the conference were invited to complete a study questionnaire that requested information on participant demographics, as well as climate change related-knowledge, practices and perceptions. Results: Majority of participating EHPs (n = 48; 72.8%) had received formal or informal training on climate change and health. Thirty-nine percent of EHPs indicated that they had a climate change and health-related committee / working group in their department, a policy or strategy (41.0%) and budget allocated for climate change and health-related work (51.5%). A total of 33.3% had participated in climate change-related projects. Majority (62.2%) of EHPs believed that they should play a supportive role in addressing climate change while 37.8% believed that EHPs should play a leading role. Conclusions: Recognising the need for raising awareness about climate change adaptation as well as implementing appropriate interventions to combat climate-related ill health effects, especially among vulnerable groups, EHPs are wellplaced to adopt significant roles in helping communities to adapt to climate change.
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National Health Insurance and climate change : planning for South Africa’s future

- Wright, Caradee Y., Chersich, Matthew, Mathee, Angela

Socio-economic, infrastructural and health-related risk factors associated with adverse heat-health effects reportedly experienced during hot weather in South Africa

- Wright, Caradee Yael, Dominick, Friederike, Kapwata, Thandi, Bidassey-Manilal, Shalin, Engelbrecht, Jacobus Christoffel, Stich, Heribert, Mathee, Angela, Matooane, Mamopeli

  • Authors: Wright, Caradee Yael , Dominick, Friederike , Kapwata, Thandi , Bidassey-Manilal, Shalin , Engelbrecht, Jacobus Christoffel , Stich, Heribert , Mathee, Angela , Matooane, Mamopeli
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Climate change , Environmental health , Heat
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/403710 , uj:33840 , Citation: Wright, C.Y. et al. 2019. Socio-economic, infrastructural and health-related risk factors associated with adverse heat-health effects reportedly experienced during hot weather in South Africa. , DOI:10.11604/pamj.2019.34.40.17569
  • Description: Abstract: Introduction: poor urban communities are likely to bear the brunt of climate change impacts on health and well-being. The City of Johannesburg, South Africa, is predicted to experience an average increase in ambient temperature of 4°C by 2100. Focusing on the urban environment, this study aimed to determine socio-economic, infrastructural and health-related risk factors for heat-related adverse health effects. Methods: this was a crosssectional study. Data of interest were collected using a pretested and validated questionnaire administered to parents of children attending schools participating in a school heat study. Information related to demographic, socio-economic and household-level determinants of health, which has an impact on the individual prevalence of adverse heat-health effects associated with hot weather, was collected for 136 households and 580 individuals. Results: sweating (n = 208 individuals; 35%), headache and nausea (n = 111; 19%) and weakness, fatigue and dizziness (n = 87; 15%) were the most common heat-health effects reportedly experienced by individuals (n = 580) during hot weather. Individuals who suffered from hypertension (OR = 2.32, 95% CI: 1.34 - 4.05, p = 0.003) and individuals older than 60 years (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.27-1.99, p < 0.001) compared to other age groups were more likely to experience 'any heat-health effects'. Living in government-sponsored detached housing and in houses with asbestos roofs were associated with an increase in reported experience of 'any heat-health effects' compared to living in other housing types. Conclusion: heathealth awareness campaigns should target people suffering from pre-existing diseases and the elderly, as these groups are especially vulnerable to heat. Focus should also be given to appropriate roofing and insulation in government-sponsored housing since summertime temperatures are projected to increase.
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Development for children’s environmental health in South Africa: Past gains and future opportunities

- Mathee, Angela, Barnes, Brendon, Naidoo, Shan, Swart, Andre, Rother, Hanna-Andrea

Provision and contention : water and sanitation services in two informal Tshwane settlements

- Shambare, Kudzanai Culver

  • Authors: Shambare, Kudzanai Culver
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Drinking water - Health aspects , Sanitation , Environmental health
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/271265 , uj:28847
  • Description: M.A. (Development Studies) , Abstract: Urbanisation of the world‟s population has taken place at a phenomenal pace over the last six decades. South Africa‟s urbanisation rate has been estimated at between 60-64%; placing it above other developing nations like China, Brazil and Nigeria. This explosive growth has been driven to a great extent by the mushrooming of urban informal settlements on the peripheries of the nation‟s sprawling metropolitan cities. Government is faced with the serious challenges of providing basic services to the residents of such areas; chief among them being the provision of basic water and sanitation. The adverse health implications of the absence of these essentials can be severe and quite devastating on communities; giving rise to diseases such as typhoid, cholera and enteritis which are believed to be among the leading killers of infants and small children (Davis, 2006). The historical peculiarities of the South African society, underlined by the massive economic and social inequality that was created by an unjust apartheid system, make it even more difficult to address the needs of a growing urban poor population. South Africa managed to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets for water and sanitation before the 2015 deadline but it appears much still needs to be done, particularly in informal settlements. Whilst the country has comprehensive legislative and policy frameworks that guide basic service provision, there are numerous other factors that determine the extent to which these policy objectives are achieved. This study examines the literature and unpacks the mixture of neoliberal and socio-democratic principles that underpin the provision of basic services in South Africa. There is a gap in the literature concerning the experiences and perception of informal settlement residents of water and sanitation in South Africa. The research investigates the water and sanitation situation in two informal settlements in the City of Tshwane. A mixed methods approach is utilised which combines quantitative, qualitative and case study techniques to enable triangulation and validation of results. The study first establishes the existing level of water and sanitation services in the two areas and compares them to other informal settlements nationally. It then seeks to capture residents‟ experiences and perceptions of the existing water and sanitation services. Finally the study identifies and examines the areas of contention that arise in the efforts to bring these services to informal settlements in particular. The results of the study show that there is a poor level of water services in both settlements despite the quantitative data having initially suggested otherwise. It also finds an appalling state of affairs when it comes to sanitation, with no services existing at all in these areas thereby exposing communities to the risk of disease. A cocktail of lack of coordination between levels of government, token community participation, conflicting stakeholder interests, unclear tenure...
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The role of environmental health in the Basotho male initiation schools: neglected or restricted?

- Rathebe, Phoka C.

  • Authors: Rathebe, Phoka C.
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Environmental health , Initiation schools , Initiates
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/274768 , uj:29330 , Citation: Rathebe, P.C. 2018. The role of environmental health in the Basotho male initiation schools: neglected or restricted?. Rathebe BMC Public Health (2018) 18:994 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5936-1.
  • Description: Abstract: The aim of this paper is to point the Environmental Health (EH) profession in South Africa in the direction of their neglected function. The health inspection of initiation schools is one of the abandoned responsibility of EH profession in South Africa. This is due to fear of interfering with the traditional value systems and thus resulting in significant non-compliance to EH norms and standards. Little information is available on the compliance rate of EH requirements in the African traditional initiation schools. South African National Department of Health states that EHPs have an obligation to protect the health, safety and well-being of citizens from the environmental determinants, and this is achieved through enforcing the health requirements. In terms of the norms and standards for EH, health education in initiation schools should form an integral part of monitoring and evaluation, and this is found under the health surveillance of premises. The main argument raised by this paper is negligence of EHPs to conduct EH inspections at the Basotho male initiation schools and to promote health in support of the constitution of South Africa. Negligence of EHPs to perform their duties result in deaths and fatal injuries among initiates and this indicates the need for health promotion and EH research in the Basotho male initiation schools.
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Systematic investigation of smoke emissions from packed-bed residential coal combustion devices

- Makonese, Tafadzwa

  • Authors: Makonese, Tafadzwa
  • Date: 2015-11-12
  • Subjects: Coal ash - Environmental aspects , Coal-bed combustion - South Africa , Air quality management , Smoke - Physiological effect , Environmental health
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14563 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/15096
  • Description: PhD. (Energy Studies) , A review of health effects of emissions from solid fuel combustion shows clear links between morbidity and mortality, and residential combustion smoke exposure. On the interior plateau of the South African Highveld, use of coal fuel in informal domestic braziers – imbaulas – constitutes a major source of local ambient and household air pollution. This thesis aimed to develop an improved understanding of the complex processes of packed-bed combustion in small domestic devices studying smoke emissions from informal domestic stoves. A robust dilution sampling system for testing emissions from residential coal-burning appliances was developed and used in the emission studies. Systematic experiments were carried out to evaluate thermal performance and emissions of coal braziers, varying fire ignition method, ventilation rate, fuel moisture and fuel quality. Three field-collected and three laboratory constructed braziers were tested, with a range of ventilation hole-densities. The variables measured are particle mass (PM2.5 and PM10), gases (CO, CO2, NOx), and particle composition and morphology. Emission factors, referenced to zero excess oxygen are reported. Two fire-ignition methods are evaluated namely: the conventional bottom-lit updraft (BLUD) method, and the top-lit updraft (TLUD)–the so-called Basa njengo Magogo method. PM2.5 and PM10 emissions reduced by 80% on average when using the TLUD in contrast to the business-as-usual BLUD method. High smoke emissions from the BLUD method during pyrolysis are found to be associated with an oxygen deficit, allowing products of incomplete combustion to be emitted. Influences of ventilation rates on the stove emissions are reported – products of incomplete combustion (PM2.5 and CO) are higher for low ventilation rates. For a given device, PM2.5 and PM10 emission factors reduce by ~50% from low to high ventilation rates (an advantage offset by firepower too high for convenient cooking).
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The utilisation of South African ash in the production of an artificial soil containing pasteurised sewage sludge

- Reynolds, Kelley Anne

  • Authors: Reynolds, Kelley Anne
  • Date: 2014-07-23
  • Subjects: Environmental health , Sewage - Purification
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:11765 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11491
  • Description: M.Dip.Tech.(Environmental Health) , At the onset of this project the aim was to utilise fly ash, supplemented with lime, to stabilise sewage sludge, in so doing create an artificial soil. This would be an environmentally friendly method of disposing of both the fly ash 'and the sewage sludge which are both considered wastes. The sewage sludge was pasteurised by the temperature produced by the exothermic reaction between the moisture ofthe sewage sludge and the high pH ofthe fly ash and the lime. Initially very high concentrations of lime were utilised to achieve the pasteurisation of the sewage sludge. These levels proved to be adequate to completely sterilise the sludge, rather than pasteurise it, as temperatures in excess of 1000e were obtained and maintained for a prolonged period. The product, SLASH, should ideally maintain some of the non-pathogenic microorganisms to facilitate natural degradation processes in the soil. .It was thus decided to minimise the lime addition and maximise the ash usage without losing the necessary soil-like texture of the SLASH product and still insuring pasteurisation. Various 10kg tests were conducted on differing ratios of sewage sludge, ash and lime. The mixtures were contained in insulated 220 litre drums in order to ensure a minimum of interference from environmental factors. The tests were conducted with the drums sealed and unsealed, as well as with coarse and finely milled lime-stone. These laboratory scale tests led to the establishment of a preferred 6:3:1 ratio ofsewage sludge to ash to lime. After an international visit to a plant manufacturing a similar product, it was suggested that the ratio be amended to 6.3:3.4:0.6 of sewage sludge to ash to lime. Tests showed that although the temperatures obtained when using this ratio were insufficient for pasteurisation, pasteurisation did occur. This was attributed to the maintenance of the pH of the product above 12 for more than 24 hours. This severely stressed the microorgansims and they died. No pathogenic bacteria were detected in the analyses from these tests, but the total aerobic bacterial count indicated the presence of some microorganisms which would become part of the soils natural flora.
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