I honour God and respect people as I am a mentor, developer, community-engaged researcher, scholar, writer, visionary and innovative academic. I see education and research as a driver of social transformation and “uBuntu” project. I thrive in teamwork, and leadership in management. My research agenda takes on an inclusive approach with communities/government/NGOs and civil society organizations, as participants towards impact and transformation on socio-economic development for Medium and Low-Income Populations (LMIPs). PhD-SOCIOLOGY: (NICHE-MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY)RESEARCH FOCUS: SOCIETY AND WELLBEING (HEALTH, ILLNESS AND MEDICINE) Address: South Africa
The tightening of Covid restrictions in relation to the management of bodies and burial practices... more The tightening of Covid restrictions in relation to the management of bodies and burial practices created great consternation in rural areas. Covid bodies were managed by mortuaries and funeral parlors which required that bodies be wrapped in multiple layers of plastic to avoid infection. Families of the deceased thus had very little access to the bodies of their loved ones prior to burial and could not wash them or communicate with them before they were buried in the ground. This challenged families whose belief system was based on direct communication with the dead to usher them safely into the afterlife and the cult of ancestors and spirits. Covid burials proved to be hopelessly inadequate vehicles for such rites of passage and social reproduction. As a result, many residents and returning migrants, tormented by dreams of their suffering deceased relatives sweating in plastic bags, exhumed dead bodies and instituted illegal reburials. Others reinitiated banned customary practices to begin to repair the spiritual wounds left by the pandemic. The chapter provides a detailed account of rural struggles to restore dignity and spiritual security in the time of Covid.
This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a... more This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential "super-spreader" events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear, and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa's Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly. To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people's science, local knowledge, and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences b...
Background: Primary healthcare (PHC) clinics play an essential role in the delivery of community-... more Background: Primary healthcare (PHC) clinics play an essential role in the delivery of community-based health services, particularly in resource-limited settings. However, there is little systematic documentation on the availability of standard operating guidelines governing their operation or evaluating the services provided by PHC facilities. This study, therefore, will aim to systematically map literature and describe the evidence on the availability of standard operating guidelines or procedures for PHC facilities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Methods: This scoping review study will be conducted inline with the Arksey and O'Malley's framework. PubMed, EBSCOhost (Academic search complete, CINAHL with full text, and Health Sources), Scopus, and Google Scholar will be searched from 2010 to 2020 for relevant evidence sources using a search strategy comprising of keywords, Boolean terms, and medical subject headings. This study will include evidence sources/studies written/publ...
The tightening of Covid restrictions in relation to the management of bodies and burial practices... more The tightening of Covid restrictions in relation to the management of bodies and burial practices created great consternation in rural areas. Covid bodies were managed by mortuaries and funeral parlors which required that bodies be wrapped in multiple layers of plastic to avoid infection. Families of the deceased thus had very little access to the bodies of their loved ones prior to burial and could not wash them or communicate with them before they were buried in the ground. This challenged families whose belief system was based on direct communication with the dead to usher them safely into the afterlife and the cult of ancestors and spirits. Covid burials proved to be hopelessly inadequate vehicles for such rites of passage and social reproduction. As a result, many residents and returning migrants, tormented by dreams of their suffering deceased relatives sweating in plastic bags, exhumed dead bodies and instituted illegal reburials. Others reinitiated banned customary practices to begin to repair the spiritual wounds left by the pandemic. The chapter provides a detailed account of rural struggles to restore dignity and spiritual security in the time of Covid.
This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a... more This book explores the impact of Covid-19, and the associated state lockdown, on rural lives in a former homeland in South Africa. The 2020 Disaster Management Act saw the state sweep through rural areas, targeting funerals and other customary practices as potential "super-spreader" events. This unprecedented clampdown produced widespread disruption, fear, and anxiety. The authors build on path-breaking work concerning local responses to West Africa's Ebola epidemic, and examine the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to understand the impact of the Covid crisis on these communities, and on rural Africa more broadly. To shed light on the role of custom and ritual in rural social change during the pandemic, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa applies long-term historical and ethnographic research; theories of people's science, local knowledge, and the human economy; and fieldwork conducted in ten rural South African communities during lockdown. The volume highlights differences b...
Background: Primary healthcare (PHC) clinics play an essential role in the delivery of community-... more Background: Primary healthcare (PHC) clinics play an essential role in the delivery of community-based health services, particularly in resource-limited settings. However, there is little systematic documentation on the availability of standard operating guidelines governing their operation or evaluating the services provided by PHC facilities. This study, therefore, will aim to systematically map literature and describe the evidence on the availability of standard operating guidelines or procedures for PHC facilities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Methods: This scoping review study will be conducted inline with the Arksey and O'Malley's framework. PubMed, EBSCOhost (Academic search complete, CINAHL with full text, and Health Sources), Scopus, and Google Scholar will be searched from 2010 to 2020 for relevant evidence sources using a search strategy comprising of keywords, Boolean terms, and medical subject headings. This study will include evidence sources/studies written/publ...
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