News: COVID-19 Pandemic
Witsies give expert T
he Times Higher Education reports that one ray of light to the COVID-19 crisis is the extraordinary and unprecedented response by the global scientific community and its rapid shift to tackling the pandemic. This includes many Wits alumni and researchers from an array of disciplines including epidemiology, medicine, public health, biomedical engineering, governance, and others, who are at the forefront of responding to the pandemic. In concert with the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), the Department of Health, and the South African government, scientists at Wits are helping to understand, predict, and contain COVID-19, manage the public health and socio-economic impact, and develop treatment and care regimens. South Africa’s experience with HIV, tuberculosis and the 2017/18 listeriosis outbreak provided valuable lessons for the current response. In the wake of the Ebola epidemic in 2014 when there were fears it would spread to South Africa, the Department of Health set up an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at the NICD to coordinate and direct an effective outbreak response. When the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, caught the attention of health authorities around the world, South Africa had world-class institutions, systems and skilled professionals ready. 4
ON THE FRONT LINE It has been speculated that one way in which the pandemic may change the world is greater recognition of the crucial role played by universities, experts and healthcare professionals in society. A large number of Wits alumni and academics are playing a lead role to tackle the pandemic. Just a few are mentioned below. Shabir Madhi (MBBCh 1990, MSc 1999, PhD 2003) is professor of vaccinology and Director of the Medical Research Council’s (MRC’s) Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at Wits. He says his unit has been at the forefront and is internationally recognised for its contribution to the understanding of infectious respiratory disease, as well as the prevention thereof with vaccines. Madhi plays a crucial role responding to media questions, disseminating credible information and
advising government on best practice. He has received grants as the Principal Investigator from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and from the MRC to expand the surveillance of COVID-19. This includes sentinel surveillance for severe acute respiratory illness in at least four provinces in South Africa. A sentinel surveillance system is used when highquality data about a particular disease is needed. Data collected in a well-designed sentinel system can signal trends, monitor the burden of disease in a community and provide a rapid, cost-effective alternative to other surveillance methods.
Professor Lynn Morris (BSc 1981, BSc Hons 1983) is interim executive director at the NICD and a virology research professor at Wits. She obtained a DPhil from the University of Oxford in 1988. In a recent interview she says, “South Africa has had
a relatively good lead time to prepare for COVID-19”. She has been a National Research Foundation A-rated researcher (international leader) for the past 25 years studying the immunovirology of South African HIV-1 subtype C infection, making significant contributions to understanding how the antibody responds as HIV develops.
