An assessment of various blood collection and transfer methods used for malaria rapid diagnostic tests

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Four blood collection and transfer devices commonly used for malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) were assessed for their consistency, accuracy and ease of use in the hands of laboratory technicians and village health workers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Laboratory technicians and village health workers collected blood from a finger prick using each device in random order, and deposited the blood either on filter paper or into a suitable casette-type RDT. Consistency and accuracy of volume delivered was determined by comparing the measurements of the resulting blood spots/heights with the measurements of laboratory-prepared pipetted standard volumes. The effect of varying blood volumes on RDT sensitivity and ease of use was also observed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was high variability in blood volume collected by the devices, with the straw and the loop, the most preferred devices, usually transferring volumes greater than intended, while the glass capillary tube and the plastic pipette transferring less volume than intended or none at all. Varying the blood volume delivered to RDTs indicated that this variation is critical to RDT sensitivity only when the transferred volume is very low.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>None of the blood transfer devices assessed performed consistently well. Adequate training on their use is clearly necessary, with more development efforts for improved designs to be used by remote health workers, in mind.</p

Adventure tourism in South Africa: Challenges and prospects

There is great potential for the development of adventure tourism in Southern Africa for a number of reasons. One is the variety of landscapes provided by South Africa\u27s natural environment that are suitable for adventure tourism activities, many of which remain relatively pristine. In addition, the development of adventure tourism has significant potential to uplift local communities through local economic development strategies due to the relatively low capital needed to establish many activities considered adventure tourism. However, very little research exists on this important industry in the South African context. This research note, therefore, highlights three important aspects of adventure tourism development in South Africa. First, the challenges facing the adventure tourism industry are addressed. Three of the most significant challenges to its development are the need for specific skills among staff, the use of adventure tourism as a pro-poor development strategy, and environmental management concerns associated with adventure tourism. Next, an overview of existing research is given, much of which has focused on specific adventure activities and destinations in South Africa. Finally, and most importantly, a detailed outline is offered of further research that would assist in the management and development of adventure tourism in South Africa in the future

An Exploration of the Impact of Digital Marketing on SMEs Growth and Brand Popularity in Rural South Africa

The purpose of the study is to establish understand of digital marketing and its use by SMEs in rural South Africa, the extent of its use, examining contributing factors to its use and their implications. Primary data was collected using a quantitative research technique with the use of a structured questionnaire as the survey instrument. A total of 134 SMEs operating in rural KwaZulu –Natal were selected. Questionnaires were distributed to the business owners/ mangers between august and December 2014. SPSS (22.0) version was employed to for data analysis. The findings of this study revealed that some rural places in South Africa still experiencing ICT problems for being not available make it difficult for SMEs growth through the use of digital marketing. The reliability analysis, reflected coefficient values from 0.70 to 0.833. The analysis of factors limiting use of digital marketing among the rural SMEs, are presented with recommended strategies and implications on how to approach the challenges. Digital marketing of rural SMEs may be strengthened through awareness and providing adequate information about ICT and through diverse of internet marketing programmes

KOJI SU IZAZOVI INTERNETSKE MARKETINŠKE KOMUNIKACIJE PREPOZNATI OD STRANE HRVATSKIH MARKETINŠKIH AGENCIJA?

It is indisputable that the internet leaves an indelible mark on many changes in the world every day. But what is important to us as marketers is what changes the internet leaves on communication between businesses and consumers. It is certainly important to point out that, from a business perspective, the internet marketing communication is the one that takes their business to a whole new dimension, which they, on a daily basis, must adapt to, given the challenges they face if they want to survive on the market. But they also must adapt to that challenges to gain some form of competitive advantage. This paper provides an insight into which challenges marketing agencies are facing on the Croatian market in this most dynamic field of marketing discipline. In addition to the theoretical basis that this paper shows, the paper also presents the results of quantitative research conducted using a questionnaire on digital marketing managers of Croatian marketing agencies.Neupitno je kako internet svakim danom ostavlja neopisiv trag na brojne promjene u svijetu, no ono što je za nas kao markentinške stručnjake važno jest kakve promjene internet ostavlja na komunikaciju između poduzeća i potrošača. Svakako je važno istaknuti kako iz perspektive poduzeća upravo internetska marketinška komunikacija dobiva jednu potpuno novu dimenziju njihova poslovanja kojem se oni svakodnevno moraju prilagođavati s obzirom na izazove koje im se javljaju ako žele opstati na tržištu, ali i ostvariti neki oblik konkurentskih prednosti. Ovaj rad upravo pruža uvid u izazove koji se nalaze pred marketinškim agencijama na hrvatskom tržištu u najdinamičnijem području marketinške discipline. Osim teorijske osnove koja pretraživanjem sekundarnih podataka prikazuje koji su to izazovi, u radu se prikazuju rezultati kvantitativnih istraživanja provedenih pomoću anketnog upitnika na menadžerima hrvatskih marketinških agencija

The Role of Ethnic Marketing in the Promotion of Domestic Leisure Tourism in Johannesburg

The study looks at ethnic marketing strategies in relation to domestic leisure tourism promotion and evaluates the effectiveness of this approach. The study also provides some insight into the perspective of ethnic consumers towards ethnic marketing initiatives.&nbsp; A mixed methods approach was used during the study with the qualitative component involving structured interviews with key marketing stakeholders involved in promoting domestic leisure tourism in Johannesburg.&nbsp; For the quantitative phase, data was collected using questionnaire surveys from a sample of 200 black South Africans at a popular leisure tourism site, namely Gold Reef City in Johannesburg. The findings show that most marketers refrain from using ethnic marketing initiatives when promoting domestic tourism.&nbsp; Further findings reveal that ethnic marketing has not had a notable effect in motivating black South Africans to engage in domestic leisure tourism. However, the ethnic consumers surveyed indicated a willingness to travel more should marketers opt to promote domestic leisure tourism using indigenous South African languages. Tourism marketers in a multicultural market can translate marketing campaigns into various ethnic languages in order to appeal to a broader consumer population and simultaneously target an important market segment, namely the ethnic consumer. Globally, there has been an uptake in ethnic marketing as many marketers realized that treating various ethnic groups as a homogeneous group resulted in the loss of many opportunities. There is still however, limited empirical research focusing on the ethnic marketing discourse particularly in relation to tourism promotion and the study offers some insight into the knowledge gap that currently exists

IDENTITY OF PLACE, PLACES OF IDENTITIES, CHANGE OF PLACE NAMES IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

International audienceVarious types of transformations of toponyms coexist today in South Africa at every scale: street, suburb, village, town, city, municipality, district, province and country. Place names contribute to forge the identity of particular places, at different scales. The combination between place and scale creates various sets of identities. The change of place names is a pertinent tool to analyse territorial restructuring in post-apartheid South Africa. It raises the question of multiculturalism in a ‘multilingual coexistence context'. Thus, it emphasises the question of memory of a past that new names want to rectify or to clear. Change of place names is at the intersection of spatial strategies and representations of all individuals. It is an entry point to study the evolution of today's identities in South Africa. If toponyms reflect the identity of a place, their changes are indicative of the multiple identities contained in one place or territory

Job satisfaction of tourism and corporate employees at a South African golf estate

Published ArticleGolf tourism is an important segment of the overall tourism market, generating substantial economic growth and job creation. The national objective to "provide excellent people development and decent work within the tourism sector" is a high priority of South African Tourism. Generally, the tourism industry is not regarded as a provider of decent work. The consequences of not providing decent work cannot be ignored as it could negatively impact on both employees and golf tourists alike. Internal job satisfaction can be defined as satisfaction with the type of job employees perform and could thus differ substantially between corporate and tourism employees based on the fact that the jobs are different by nature. The purpose of the research was to measure the internal job satisfaction and overall job satisfaction of corporate and tourism employees employed at a reputable golf estate in South Africa. A newly developed index based on the literature review conducted was used to gather quantitative data from 92 employees. Overall, all the employees were satisfied with their jobs. The corporate employees were, however, significantly more satisfied than the tourism employees. Goal determination, feedback, recognition and creativity were identified as the variables (which loaded onto the one factor solution) with which the tourism employees were least satisfied

Internet marketing benefits for South African SME owner-managers

Published ArticleWith the recent explosion of global marketing strategies, business enterprises have to contend with severe and escalating competition. To sustain competitiveness, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa should produce high-quality, customised goods and services efficiently. Adoption of Internet marketing technologies is fundamental towards meeting this challenge. However, the adoption and diffusion of technologies in marketing practices is the outcome of purposeful processes emanating from the realisation by SMEs that adoption of these technologies yields significant paybacks. The purpose of this study was to establish the managers' perceptions of the benefits of Internet marketing adoption in small and medium enterprises. Using a quantitative approach, a questionnaire was administered to owner-managers of small and medium enterprises in the Vaal Triangle in South Africa. A total of 269 questionnaires were completed, returned and considered useful for the survey. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis in order to establish the factors considered to be the salient Internet marketing benefits. Four underlying factors were extracted namely: customer relationship building, information gathering, promotion and enhanced productivity. The mean scores indicated that information gathering was perceived as most important, but after sturdier tests for association were applied to the data set, customer relationship management demonstrated the most significant and positive correlation with SME productivity. As such, there is need for the small and medium enterprises to develop strategies to expand and sustain the identified benefits of Internet marketing

Rebuilding tourism for the future : COVID-19 and tourism levy administration in Gauteng graded accommodation sector

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the tourism sector to a complete standstill during the hard lockdown because of the global travel ban. This study aims to analyse the effects of COVID-19 on levy administration and revenue collection in Gauteng graded accommodation establishments in South Africa. Gauteng province is a gateway for international tourist arrivals and the most visited province in South Africa. The study used a case study design based on a saturated purposive snowball sampling procedure with data collected through semi-structured interviews from 15 key informants, stakeholders in Tourism marketing, directly working with graded accommodation establishments. The study reports a significant disruption in levy collection due to the COVID19 pandemic. The COVID-19 restrictions led to the loss of business profits due to establishments' permanent and temporary closures. For Gauteng's graded accommodation establishments to survive, technological innovation and reorganisation of operations were critical. The study recommends stakeholder harmonisation in synergy with strategies for levy collection post- COVID-19 era. This study proposes critical interventions to the levy administrators and government to support graded establishments collecting the levy.http://www.ajhtl.comhj2023School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA

Banking customers’ attitudes toward complaining : their likelihood of voicing a complaint and service recovery they consider appropriate.

This paper measures the attitude of banking customers towards complaining and their likelihood to complain when a service failure is experienced at their current and another bank. Insight is also provided into the service recovery responses customers consider appropriate when a service failure is experienced. The target population included individuals in the Gauteng Province of South Africa who hold a bank account in their personal capacity. An interviewer-administered survey was used to collect data using non-probability quota sampling based upon population group and gender. A demographic profile of respondents, as well as the findings in terms of the aforementioned constructs and related hypotheses is provided. The study found that respondents have a positive attitude towards complaining, and that they are significantly more likely to voice a complaint when experiencing a service failure at their current bank than at another bank. Significant differences also exist with regard to the individual responses respondents consider appropriate when confronted with a hypothetical service failure experienced at their current bank and another bank