THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH OF THE PROVINCE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIO OF THE WESTERN CAPE 1960 - 1990

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)This study reflects the vital role the church should play in the social transformation of society. It undoubtedly has the potential to be a strategic organisation for social change. However, in the past it has failed to reach that potential. The hope for the future is that the church will embrace that potential and become active in the process of social transformation. The Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA) has been the researcher's spiritual home for her entire life. During this time, and particularly over the past five years, she has sought to find her place in the church's inflexible, bureaucratic and patriarchal structure. While this study was in the final stages of being written, the CPSA took the historic decision to ordain women to the priesthood. Her personal struggle had been vindicated. However, more importantly, the church's decision attests to that organisation's potential for creative change. Thus this study is dedicated to the members of the CPSA in the Diocese of Cape Town, in the hope that they will embrace the challenge, both as individuals and as a community to become active agents of social change. The field research was conducted during the period March 1989 to March 1990 by the researcher herself, who was a paid employee of the Diocese of Cape Town at the time. Both the promoter and co-promoter of this thesis supervised this research. The results were first published in August 1990 by the Diocese of Cape Town in a report entitled, Voices of the Church: An Anglican perspective on welfare and development in the Diocese of Cape Town. Permission to use the research material in this study has been granted by the Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu, and is acknowledged with thanks. There are many people who during that period enabled the research to take place because of their willingness, enthusiasm and interest: the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu; Bishop Edward the liaison Bishop; members of Chapter and Diocesan Council; the support committee; the 130 people in the parishes who so willingly shared of themselves and their opinions, and in many instances opened their homes; and the clergy of the diocese, who participated wholeheartedly in the process

Curriculum design in theology and development: Human agency and the prophetic role of the church

The field of theology and development is a relatively new sub-discipline within theological studies in Africa. The first formal post-graduate programme was introduced at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa during the mid-1990s. In the early years it was known as the Leadership and Development programme and since 2000, as the Theology and Development programme. Over the past twenty years, this programme has graduated over 160 BTh Honours, 100 MTh, and 15 PhD students. This article outlines the history of the programme, addresses its ideological orientation, its pedagogical commitments and preferences in curriculum design. It further argues that theological reflection on “development” must seek to understand the prophetic role of the church in responding to the complexities of the social issues facing the African continent.  Key to this discussion is the contested nature of “development” and the need for theological perspectives to engage this contestation through a social analysis of the global structures of injustice. This requires an engagement with the social sciences. It is this engagement of the social sciences with theological reflection, the essay argues, that has enabled the students who have graduated from the Theology and Development Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to assist the church and faith-based organisations to become effective agents of social transformation

36-month clinical outcomes of patients with venous thromboembolism: GARFIELD-VTE

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE), encompassing both deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.Methods: GARFIELD-VTE is a prospective, non-interventional observational study of real-world treatment practices. We aimed to capture the 36-month clinical outcomes of 10,679 patients with objectively confirmed VTE enrolled between May 2014 and January 2017 from 415 sites in 28 countries.Findings: A total of 6582 (61.6 %) patients had DVT alone, 4097 (38.4 %) had PE +/- DVT. At baseline, 98.1 % of patients received anticoagulation (AC) with or without other modalities of therapy. The proportion of patients on AC therapy decreased over time: 87.6 % at 3 months, 73.0 % at 6 months, 54.2 % at 12 months and 42.0 % at 36 months. At 12-months follow-up, the incidences (95 % confidence interval [CI]) of all-cause mortality, recurrent VTE and major bleeding were 6.5 (7.0-8.1), 5.4 (4.9-5.9) and 2.7 (2.4-3.0) per 100 person-years, respectively. At 36-months, these decreased to 4.4 (4.2-4.7), 3.5 (3.2-2.7) and 1.4 (1.3-1.6) per 100 person-years, respectively. Over 36-months, the rate of all-cause mortality and major bleeds were highest in patients treated with parenteral therapy (PAR) versus oral anti-coagulants (OAC) and no OAC, and the rate of recurrent VTE was highest in patients on no OAC versus those on PAR and OAC. The most frequent cause of death after 36-month follow-up was cancer (n = 565, 48.6 %), followed by cardiac (n = 94, 8.1 %), and VTE (n = 38, 3.2 %). Most recurrent VTE events were DVT alone (n = 564, 63.3 %), with the remainder PE, (n = 236, 27.3 %), or PE in combination with DVT (n = 63, 7.3 %).Interpretation: GARFIELD-VTE provides a global perspective of anticoagulation patterns and highlights the accumulation of events within the first 12 months after diagnosis. These findings may help identify treatment gaps for subsequent interventions to improve patient outcomes in this patient population