Challenges to bridge in the realisation of strategy 2000-2004

Paper presented at the South African Transport Conference 17 - 20 July 2000 "Action in transport for the new millennium", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

The role of transport infrastructure in development

Paper presented at the 21st Annual South African Transport Conference 15 - 18 July 2002 "Towards building capacity and accelerating delivery", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: The National Department of Transport’s role in the transport sector is one of policy and strategy formulation, substantive regulation, and co-ordination, with reduced direct involvement in operations and in the provision of infrastructure and services. The paper focuses on the policy, strategy and co-ordination role of the Department in relation to transport infrastructure, and particularly road infrastructure. The NDoT’s policy and strategy relating to transport infrastructure are spelt out in the 1996 White Paper on Transport Policy and the 1999 Moving South Africa Strategic Framework. The paper reviews the status quo of the country’s transport infrastructure, identifies current financing, information, institutional and capacity problems, and postulates options for overcoming these problems. It describes current initiatives of the Department, including the formulation of a comprehensive roads development plan for South Africa, for both the “economic” and “social” elements of the road system. A long-standing problem in South Africa has been inadequate co-ordination and integration of transport infrastructure provision and management, between the modes of transport, between the three spheres of government, between departments of government, between countries of the region, and between the public and private sectors. The paper describes initiatives to improve such co-ordination.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

NEPAD : the transport challenges

Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 14 - 16 July 2003 "National issues affecting the movement of people and goods - strategic approaches", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: The objective of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is to give impetus to Africa’s development by bridging existing gaps in priority sectors in order to enable the continent to catch up with developed parts of the world, to eradicate poverty in Africa and to place African countries on a path of sustainable growth and development and thus halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process. The achievement of NEPAD’s political, security, economic, social, and environmental goals are dependent on certain enablers, one of these being the transport of people and goods. The National Department of Transport sees the essential role of transport in NEPAD as being that of an opportunity catalyst. The paper looks at the current state of transport in Africa, current involvement by South African transport organisations in Africa, identifies transport-related issues constraining development, summarises actions to meet some of these challenges, and identifies the need for a focused transport sector strategy in support of NEPAD.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

Establishment of viable rural supply chains, markets and associated economic opportunities

Paper presented at the 20th Annual South African Transport Conference 16 - 20 July 2001 "Meeting the transport challenges in Southern Africa", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

Strategies to reduce road casualties in public passenger transport vehicles in South Africa

Paper presented at the South African Transport Conference 17 - 20 July 2000 "Action in transport for the new millennium", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: The spate of bus crashes in South Africa in September/October 1999 led to a ministerial inquiry into the causes of these crashes and also to the formulation of recommendations to prevent similar disasters. Annually, about 9 000 buses (about one-third of the total bus fleet) are involved in road accidents. The frequent occurrence of minibus taxi crashes is also a matter of grave concern due to the large number of vehicle occupants killed or injured. Minibus taxis is the vehicle category in South Africa with the highest accident and fatality rate per 100 million vehicle kilometers traveled. The paper covers a number of aspects to highlight the problems but also provides short and medium term solutions. Firstly, the road traffic safety record of the public passenger transport sector is scrutinised. The collision and casualty figures for buses and minibuses for 1998 (the latest available statistics) by urban and rural areas are highlighted. An analysis is done of trends in bus and minibus road accident and collision rates since the early nineties. The trends are also compared to those of freight vehicles (heavy vehicles and LDV’s). Secondly, factors are identified contributing to road traffic crashes and casualties in the public passenger transport sector. The impact of the human, vehicle and road environment factors are discussed and contributing factors based on specific case studies are pinpointed. Thirdly, short and medium term solutions are offered to reduce road casualties in the public passenger transport sector. Measures covered are related to operators, drivers, vehicles and other more general issues impacting on all road users. These solutions are based on the results of deliberations between government and the various stakeholders involved.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

Developing a diversity, equity and inclusion compass to guide scientific capacity strengthening efforts in Africa.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in science is vital to improve the scientific process and ensure societal uptake and application of scientific results. DEI challenges include a full spectrum of issues from the lack of, and promotion of, women in science, to the numerous barriers in place that limit representation of African scientists in global scientific efforts. DEI principles in African science remain relatively underdeveloped, with limited engagement and discussion among all stakeholders to ensure that initiatives are relevant to local environments. The Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV research Excellence (SANTHE) is a network of African-led research in HIV, tuberculosis (TB), associated co-morbidities, and emerging pathogens, now based in eight African countries. Our aim, as a scientific capacity strengthening network, was to collaboratively produce a set of DEI guidelines and to represent them visually as a DEI compass. We implemented a consortium-wide survey, focus group discussions and a workshop where we were able to identify the key DEI challenges as viewed by scientists and support staff within the SANTHE network. Three thematic areas were identified: 1. Conquering Biases, 2. Respecting the Needs of a Diverse Workforce (including mental health challenges, physical disability, career stability issues, demands of parenthood, and female-specific challenges), and 3. Promotion of African Science. From this we constructed a compass that included proposed steps to start addressing these issues. The use of the compass metaphor allows 're-adjustment/re-positioning' making this a dynamic output. The compass can become a tool to establish an institution's DEI priorities and then to progress towards them

Detection of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL)-Producing <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> from Diseased Broiler Chickens in Lusaka District, Zambia

Poultry products in Zambia form an integral part of the human diet in many households, as they are cheap and easy to produce. The burden of poultry diseases has, however, remained a major challenge. Growing consumer demand for poultry products in Zambia has resulted in non-prudent antimicrobial use on farms, intending to prevent and treat poultry diseases for growth optimisation and maximising profits. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the different types of bacteria causing diseases in chickens in Lusaka and to detect the extended-spectrum lactamase (ESBL)-encoding genes. We collected 215 samples from 91 diseased chickens at three post-mortem facilities and screened them for Gram-negative bacteria. Of these samples, 103 tested positive for various clinically relevant Enterobacteriaceae, including Enterobacter (43/103, 41.7%), Escherichia coli (20/103, 19.4%), Salmonella (10/103, 9.7%), and Shigella (8/103, 7.8%). Other isolated bacteria included Yersinia, Morganella, Proteus, and Klebsiella, which accounted for 21.4%. E. coli, Enterobacter, Salmonella, and Shigella were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The results revealed that E. coli, Enterobacter, and Shigella were highly resistant to tetracycline, ampicillin, amoxicillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, while Salmonella showed complete susceptibility to all tested antibiotics. The observed resistance patterns correlated with antimicrobial usage estimated from sales data from a large-scale wholesale and retail company. Six (6/14, 42.9%) E. coli isolates tested positive for blaCTX-M, whilst eight (8/14, 57.1%) Enterobacter samples tested positive for blaTEM. Interestingly, four (4/6, 66.7%) of the E. coli isolates carrying blaCTX-M-positive strains were also positive for blaTEM. Sanger sequencing of the PCR products revealed that five (5/6, 83.3%) of the abovementioned isolates possessed the blaCTX-M-15 allele. The results suggest the presence of potentially pathogenic ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in poultry, threatening public health