PACOFS is the flag ship of theatre activities in the Free State Province, the central region of South Africa. It is a Playhouse where an environment is provided for artists to practice and perform their different art forms. An annual season of classic and contemporary South African, African and international theatre productions are performed inside its theatres.
Continue reading →The National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa is a national support programme that drives the transition of South African industry towards a green economy through appropriate resource efficient and cleaner production (RECP) interventions.
The NCPC-SA’s mission is to drive RECP in industrial and selected commercial and public sectors by equipping them to operate in an efficient, sustainable and competitive manner.
Services and focus areas include industry and sector knowledge-sharing, company technical support; green skills development; and advocacy and awareness-raising.
Continue reading →The Mental Health Information Centre of Southern Africa strives to assist the South African public and professionals with up-to-date mental health information as well as an accessible easy-to-use database of mental health professionals.
Continue reading →The CEZPD has a strong track record in providing a comprehensive capacity for the differential diagnosis and research of viral haemorrhagic fevers, arthropod-borne diseases, human rabies, anthrax, plague, leptospirosis and other infectious diseases of public health importance. Furthermore, CEZPD offers specialised parasitological diagnostic tests and is involved in the surveillance of drug-resistant malaria and vector control strategies in South Africa. The CEZPD, in addition, provides training to BSc Hons, MSc and PhD students, and national and international research fellows in laboratory techniques, including training in working in BSL3 and BSL4 biocontainment facilities.
Continue reading →The Centre for Enteric Diseases (CED) focuses on the surveillance of pathogens associated with diarrhoea and enteric fevers, and actively assists with the investigation and response to enteric disease outbreaks (including food- and water-borne disease outbreaks). The CED also provides specialised reference laboratory testing for enteric bacteria and viruses, including potential causes of food- and water-borne outbreaks.
Continue reading →The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) is a national centre supported by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) as part of the new South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR).
“SARIR is a high-level strategic and systemic intervention to provide research infrastructure across the entire public research system, building on existing capabilities and strengths, and drawing on future needs.”
Continue reading →The Centre for Healthcare-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses (CHARM) was established in April 2017. CHARM hosts two national reference laboratories and is supported by an epidemiology section. The centre was designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for AMR (WHO SOA-43) in June 2017.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are among the commonest complications of hospital admission, are costly for the patient and the overall healthcare system, and may lead to patient deaths. This is an important new focus area for the centre. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is estimated to be associated with over 700 000 deaths every year, a number which could rise as high as 10 million in 2050.
Continue reading →Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including those caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) types 1 and 2, remain a major public health problem in Africa. Published estimates of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS show that South Africa has the highest burden of HIV infections with recent estimates of 7.7 million people living with HIV.
The Centre for HIV and STIs (CHIVSTI) has a strong track record in the research disciplines of HIV virology, HIV immunology, HIV/STI epidemiology, HIV/STI diagnostics and HIV-STI interactions.
Continue reading →The Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis (CRDM) is a resource of surveillance, diagnostics, expertise and research in the field of communicable respiratory diseases and meningitis for South Africa and the African continent.
The centre generates data and provides expertise related to respiratory diseases and meningitis of public health importance to the South African National Department of Health, health care providers, regional and international collaborators, to assist with the planning of public health policies and programmes, and response to respiratory disease and meningitis outbreaks. CRDM is also a source of capacity building and formal training within South Africa and the African region.
Continue reading →The SA Vaccination and Immunisation Centre (SAVIC) was established in 2003 at the Medical University of Southern Africa (now the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University [SMU]), as a network of partners in the field of vaccination and immunisation with the overall aim of supporting immunisation services.
SAVIC is a public-private academic partnership between the National Department of Health (NDoH), the vaccine industry, academic institutions and other stakeholders. SAVIC’s activities are undertaken in close collaboration with the NDoH and the WHO, thereby ensuring that all training of HCWs follows national and WHO guidelines.
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