Projects This is a listing of projects undertaken in 2019 and 2020 – many of which have resulted in substantial publications listed at the end of this report. They were implemented by the staff of the School of Public Health (SOPH), often in collaboration with partners whose organisations are named wherever this is the case. Only the names of the SOPH staff, students (both current and alumni), NRF interns, post-doctoral fellows and the School’s extraordinary professors are named here, however.
COVID-19 PROJECTS A number of projects were undertaken in 2020, following the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. These were all parts of larger international studies and included topics such as food and cooking, mental health of students and of the general population, the experiences of community health workers and the use of cloth masks. •
ordering in prepared foods while others embarked on learning how to cook for the first time. Anecdotal evidence that many people have engaged in cooking less healthy meals has resulted in a major concern that overconsumption of these foods may affect the health of people globally. The project produced a report - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Food Literacy: A multicountry observational study in 38 countries (De Backer et al., 2021) – and four webinar presentations: COVID 19 lockdown mental health consequences and changes with respect to shopping, food preparation and consumption among South Africans: Facebook survey. These were organised by the SASUF (South Africa Sweden University Forum) consortium, the University of Johannesburg’s Food Evolution Research Lab, UWC’s Health Sciences and the South African Association of Family Ecology and Consumer Science (SAAFECS).
Cloth face mask use during COVID-19 crisis: A multi-country on-line cross-sectional study among adult runners Anam Nyembezi, Zandile Mchiza, Sunday Onagbiye, Timothy Makubuya This multi-country study was conducted between July and September 2020 in the United States and South Africa. These countries were selected as COVID-19 community transmission was still occurring and there were still active cases at the time. Undertaken in collaboration with the University of Missouri-St. Louis (USA) and the UWC Department of Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science, the aim was to assess adult runners’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the use of cloth face masks/ coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A total of 372 participants were conveniently invited using Facebook and WhatsApp, 294 being from South Africa and 78 from the USA. The majority (78%) belonged to a running club and 91% cited fitness as the reason for running/jogging. More than half (53%) were screened, 24% were tested and 15% tested positive for COVID-19. The study showed 94% of the participants had accurate knowledge and 86% positive attitudes regarding COVID-19. 61% reported always wearing a mask when running, with 60% often using buffs. The percentage of those who incorrectly used the mask was low; never covered mouth (12%) and nose (16%), lowered mask (13%), never washed mask (3%) and hands after removing mask (4%). The majority (67%) reported that sometimes they saw other runners not wearing a mask, not covering mouth (66%) and nose (64%). The perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 among the general population was higher (47%) compared with doing so from other runners (31%).
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Corona cooking Zandile Mchiza A partnership between UWC, the University of Antwerp and Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, this project explored the changes in shopping, cooking and food consumption that have occurred globally during the COVID-19 lockdown crisis. Forced to stay home, with restaurants in many countries closed, some people have resorted to
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The project was undertaken with financial support from the Research Foundation Flanders, Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship. •
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of the South African population Hanani Tabana In May 2020 an on-line survey was administered to adults 18 years and older living in South Africa. The study measured the prevalence and severity of psychological distress among the general population during COVID-19 containment measures, and aimed to establish longitudinal estimates of the impact on mental health and psychological distress of COVID-19 and the different containment measures applied during various phases of the pandemic. The study was undertaken in partnership with the UWC Division for Postgraduate Studies, the University of Cape Town and the University of Antwerp (Belgium).
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The experiences of community health workers affected by COVID-19 during the outbreak in South Africa: A qualitative study Lungiswa Tsolekile, Uta Lehmann In 2020 SOPH began a review of the role of community-based services during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Western Cape Province, as part of a wider review of public health responses led by the provincial health department. Linked to the SAMRC HSSU Research Unit, this work will be part of a larger study to be conducted in 2021 with community
