Manufacturing homemade alcohol in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of home-based manufacturing of alcoholic beverages in townships/peri-urban households and to examine whether certain characteristics (such as household, demographics and drinking behaviour of participants who reported brewing of alcohol in their homes) predicted home brewing of alcohol. The study utilized data from South African arm of International Alcohol Control study conducted in the city of Tshwane. A household survey used multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling. Homemade alcohol was defined as participants who reported home-based alcohol brewing at their homes. Stata Version 14.0 was used for analyses. Nine percent of the sample reported brewing of alcohol in their households. Race, employment of the main income earners and number of eligible members in the household have predicted homebased alcohol brewing. The study raised important questions about the prevalence of home brewing of alcohol in the city of Tshwane as it might be a common practice in other cities. Keywords: Homemade alcohol, alcohol brewing, South Afric

Data-Driven Decision Making in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A City of Cape Town Case Study

In the event of a crisis, such as COVID-19, the decisions and subsequent actions taken by the local government are one of the primary sources of support to the local population. Yet the processes through which these decisions are reached and the data engineering advancements made for and during events are poorly reported. Understanding the capabilities and constraints in which city officials operate is essential for impactful academic research alongside global city comparison and discussion on best practices in reaching optimal and data-informed decisions. This is especially pertinent for the global South, where informality in housing and the economy presents further challenges to appropriate resource distribution in a crisis. Here, we present insights into the City of Cape Town’s data-driven response and subsequent data engineering and analytical developments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This is based upon a review of internal documentation including a close-out report which summarised semi-structured interviews with staff involved in the data work stream. The paper reports on the deliverables produced during 2020 by the data work stream and outlines specific challenges the city faced and its data-informed response in the areas of (1) quantifying costs for COVID-19 initiatives, (2) dealing with a surge in fatalities, (3) guiding scarce public resources to respond to an evolving crisis, and (4) data sharing. We demonstrate the real-term value of incorporating data into the decision-making process and conclude by outlining key factors that cities and researchers must consider as a part of the usual business to effectively assist their populations during times of stress and crisis

Results of a cluster randomised controlled trial to reduce risky use of alcohol, alcohol-related HIV risks and improve help-seeking behaviour among safety and security employees in the Western Cape, South Africa

Objective: To test the effectiveness of a programme aimed at reducing the risky use of alcohol and alcohol-related HIV risk and increase help-seeking behaviour among a sample of municipal employees in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Methods: A clustered randomised controlled trial was conducted in 2011–2012 among 325 employees. The eight hour intervention, Team Awareness (TA), addressing behavioural risk among employees was administered to 168 employees in the intervention arm and the 157 employees in the control arm who received a one-hour wellness talk. Results: The results show that TA had the greatest impact on risky drinking practices and hangover effects. There was a significant group × time interaction (F (1, 117) = 25.16, p < 0.0001) with participants in the intervention condition reducing number of days on which they engaged in binge drinking. There was also a significant time effect with participants in the intervention condition reducing the likelihood of going to work with a hangover (F (1,117) = 4.10, p = 0.045). No reduction in HIV-related risk behaviours were found. Conclusions: This intervention study was able to demonstrate a modest but significant reduction in risky drinking practices and hangover effects. This provides encouraging evidence for the effectiveness of interventions that address risky use of alcohol among employed persons, further providing a launch pad for strengthening and replicating future RCT studies on workplace prevention, especially in developing country settings. Clinical Trial Registration Number: Pan-African Control Trial Registry (201301000458308)

Liquor outlet density, deprivation and implications for foetal alcohol syndrome prevention in the Bergriver municipality in the Western Cape, South Africa

Foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most common preventable birth defect in the world, and some South African communities have amongst the highest reported rates. In August 2008, global positioning systems and geographic information systems (GIS) were used to collect data on legal and illegal alcohol outlets in the Bergriver municipality. A total of 112 outlets were recorded and towns with the densest distributions (outlet/km2) were Piketberg and Eendekuil. Spearman coefficients were used to estimate the relationship between alcohol outlet distributions within the study area and the South African Index of Multiple Deprivation. Although not statistically significant, the data are suggestive of an inverse relationship between legal alcohol outlets and deprivation – less deprived areas had higher density of legal alcohol outlets – while the opposite relationship applied for illegal alcohol outlets. GIS provides spatial documentation of determinants of FAS risks amenable to geographically based prevention strategies, as well as providing baseline data to evaluate the effectiveness of liquor legislation aimed at controlling access to alcohol. Results are being repurposed into health education materials that encourage community action to address the social determinants of health outcomes such as FAS.Fogarty International Centre, Mount Sinai School of Medicine International Exchange Program for Minority Studentshttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsag202015-10-30am201

Data-Driven Decision Making in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A City of Cape Town Case Study

In the event of a crisis, such as COVID-19, the decisions and subsequent actions taken by the local government are one of the primary sources of support to the local population. Yet the processes through which these decisions are reached and the data engineering advancements made for and during events are poorly reported. Understanding the capabilities and constraints in which city officials operate is essential for impactful academic research alongside global city comparison and discussion on best practices in reaching optimal and data-informed decisions. This is especially pertinent for the global South, where informality in housing and the economy presents further challenges to appropriate resource distribution in a crisis. Here, we present insights into the City of Cape Town’s data-driven response and subsequent data engineering and analytical developments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This is based upon a review of internal documentation including a close-out report which summarised semi-structured interviews with staff involved in the data work stream. The paper reports on the deliverables produced during 2020 by the data work stream and outlines specific challenges the city faced and its data-informed response in the areas of (1) quantifying costs for COVID-19 initiatives, (2) dealing with a surge in fatalities, (3) guiding scarce public resources to respond to an evolving crisis, and (4) data sharing. We demonstrate the real-term value of incorporating data into the decision-making process and conclude by outlining key factors that cities and researchers must consider as a part of the usual business to effectively assist their populations during times of stress and crisis

Evaluation of a service provider short course for prevention of fetal alcohol syndrome

OBJECTIVE: South Africa has among the highest reported rates of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) globally. Primary prevention targeting women at risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies could substantially reduce the incidence of FAS. We evaluated the effectiveness of a short training intervention to improve service providers' screening, identification, and management of women at risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies. METHOD: Training to screen and counsel women at risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies was offered to 86 service providers (95% of whom were female) in two municipalities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Effectiveness was evaluated through a before-after study of service providers' knowledge and confidence levels and a comparison of service providers' practices (assessed indirectly via service user exit interviews) at intervention and control clinics. RESULTS: The proportion of service providers indicating that alcohol use during pregnancy is harmful to the fetus increased after training (23% vs. 67%; p < .001). After training, providers expressed significantly more confidence for four skills indicators related to the identification and management of women at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy. Female clients at intervention clinics were more likely than those at the control clinics to receive alcohol advice (odds ratio [OR] = 2.13, 95% CI [1.27, 3.53]), counseling (OR = 1.3, 95% CI [1.05, 1.56]), and an offer of family planning (OR = 1.1, 95% CI [1.06, 2.10]) after the training. Time × Group interaction variable analysis in multiple logistic regression modeling confirmed these effects as related to training. CONCLUSIONS: A short training course based on brief motivational interviewing principles appears to be effective in building service provider capacity to better prevent and manage women at risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies.The Centers for Disease Control and Intervention (CDC) and the South African Wine Industries Trust (SAWIT)http://www.jsad.com