Ongoing Initiatives to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Medicine Use within the Public Healthcare System in South Africa; A Preliminary Study

Introduction: South Africa has an appreciable burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as high maternal, neonatal, and child morbidity. In recent years there have been significant strides with improving the public health system, and addressing current inequalities, with the right to health a constitutional provision in South Africa. Initiatives include the introduction of National Health Insurance, programmes to enhance access to medicines for patients with chronic diseases, as well as activities to improve care in hospitals, including improving pharmacovigilance. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to review ongoing initiatives within the public healthcare sector in South Africa and their influence to provide future direction.Method: Principally a structured review of current and planned activities.Results: There have been a number of major activities and initiatives surrounding the availability and access to medicines in the public system in recent years in South Africa. This includes a National Surveillance Centre and an innovative early warning system for the supply of medicines as well as the development of a National Health Care Pricing Authority and initiatives to improve contracting. There have also been developments to improve the supply chain including instigating Medicine Procurement Units in the provinces and enhancing forecasting capabilities. Access to medicines is improving though the instigation of stable chronic disease management initiatives to increase the number of external pick-up points for medicines. There are also ongoing programmes to enhance adherence to medicines as well as enhance adherence to the Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Medicines List with their increasing availability. In addition, there is a movement to enhance the role of health technology assessment in future decision making. Hospital initiatives include increased focus on reducing antimicrobial resistance through instigating stewardship programmes as well as improving adverse drug reaction reporting and associated activities.Conclusion: Overall, there are an appreciable number of ongoing activities within the public healthcare system in South Africa attempting to ensure and sustain universal healthcare. It is too early to assess their impact, which will be the subject of future research

The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861

Complexity and Confusion at the Opening of the Civil War The battle of Manassas (Bull Run) in July 1861, served as an early pivot point in the American Civil War, indicating that the conflict would be longer and more costly than many in the North or South would have imagined previously. I...

Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862

Shiloh and the Course of the Civil War Long before Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 appeared in print, personnel associated with Shiloh National Military Park were aware of the scholarly work of O. Edward Cunningham pertaining to that battle. Studying under the renowned hist...

To the Battles of Franklin and Nashville and Beyond: Stabilization and Reconstruction in Tennessee and Kentucky, 1864-1866

Examining the Transition to Peace in Tennessee and Kentucky In this latest of three volumes, Benjamin Franklin Cooling continues his series examining the effects of the American Civil War on Kentucky and Tennessee. Cooling builds on his earlier work, Forts Henry and Donelson—The Key ...

25th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2014)

Banks employ different IT sourcing strategies to reduce IT costs. Australian banks are highly regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA). We selected the two largest Australian banks, Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to investigate the complexity of their IT multi-sourcing models and associated risks. We analysed public documents to reveal the IT sourcing trends from 2009 to 2013, and compared the alignment of the banks' risk frameworks with the APRA risk framework. Finally we reviewed APRA's risk management at the finance industry level and identified that neither risk management nor governance is performed and/or reported by APRA to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Therefore to ensure the cumulative effect of the banks' IT sourcing strategies are measured and reported at the industry level, it is recommended that APRA develops and implements an industry-level risk framework mirroring standard APS 115

Prudential regulatory risk governance of IT multi-sourcing strategies within the Australian banking sector

Banks employ different IT sourcing strategies to reduce IT costs. Australian banks are highly regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA). We selected the two largest Australian banks, Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to investigate the complexity of their IT multi-sourcing models and associated risks. We analysed public documents to reveal the IT sourcing trends from 2009 to 2013, and compared the alignment of the banks' risk frameworks with the APRA risk framework. Finally we reviewed APRA's risk management at the finance industry level and identified that neither risk management nor governance is performed and/or reported by APRA to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Therefore to ensure the cumulative effect of the banks' IT sourcing strategies are measured and reported at the industry level, it is recommended that APRA develops and implements an industry-level risk framework mirroring standard APS 115

Hero or anti-hero?: Narratives of newswork and journalistic identity construction in complex digital megastories

Exploring constructions of journalistic identity in a digital age has been a lively area of scholarship as the field of digital journalism studies has grown (Franklin 2013, 2014; Steensen and Ahva 2015). Yet despite many approaches to understanding digital change, key avenues for understanding changing constructions of identity remain underexplored. This paper addresses a conceptual void in research literature by employing semiotic and semantic approaches to analyse performances of journalistic identity in narratives of newswork facilitated by and focused on digital megaleaks. It seeks to aid understanding of the way narratives describe changing practices of newsgathering, and how journalists position themselves within these hybrid traditional/digital stories. Findings show news narratives reinforce the primacy of journalists within traditional boundaries of a journalistic field, and articulate a preferred imagination of journalistic identity. Methodologically, this paper shows how semantic and semiotic approaches lend themselves to studying narratives of newswork within journalistic metadiscourses to understand journalistic identity at the nexus of traditional and digital dynamics. The resultant portrait of journalistic identity channels a sociohistoric, romantic notion of the journalist as “the shadowy figure always to be found on the edges of the century’s great events” (Inglis 2002, xi), updated to accommodate modern, digital dynamics

2006 IT Governance International Conference

[Abstract]: Acting upon the recommendations of a review of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) governance and services at USQ, a major restructure was effected merging ICT units previously scattered across the university. The new Division of ICT Services embodies both CobiT and ITIL principles and comprises three sections: performance measurement and investment management; service delivery; and infrastructure and systems. To ensure the radical change was managed professionally, a change manager from the HR department was seconded to the project. With the new structure now in place, a single service desk has been implemented and service level agreements are being formulated with faculties and departments. This paper describes the new reporting structure of the Division of ICT Services, the internal structure, the goals of the Division and how they align with the corporate goals. To benchmark services, surveys of students and academic and general staff were conducted and are reported. Innovative arrangements include the use of student ‘daemons’ to supplement ICT support capabilities, as well as two part-time positions of principal advisors: learning and teaching, and research. Care was taken to ensure that the new ICT structure was logical and conducive to operational effectiveness, efficiency and sound ICT governance. The new structure provides pathways and opportunities for career progression, reflects a client focus and provides role delineation and functional accountability

Genome-Wide Association Analysis Identifies a Mutation in the Thiamine Transporter 2 (SLC19A3) Gene Associated with Alaskan Husky Encephalopathy

Alaskan Husky Encephalopathy (AHE) has been previously proposed as a mitochondrial encephalopathy based on neuropathological similarities with human Leigh Syndrome (LS). We studied 11 Alaskan Husky dogs with AHE, but found no abnormalities in respiratory chain enzyme activities in muscle and liver, or mutations in mitochondrial or nuclear genes that cause LS in people. A genome wide association study was performed using eight of the affected dogs and 20 related but unaffected control AHs using the Illumina canine HD array. SLC19A3 was identified as a positional candidate gene. This gene controls the uptake of thiamine in the CNS via expression of the thiamine transporter protein THTR2. Dogs have two copies of this gene located within the candidate interval (SLC19A3.2 – 43.36–43.38 Mb and SLC19A3.1 – 43.411–43.419 Mb) on chromosome 25. Expression analysis in a normal dog revealed that one of the paralogs, SLC19A3.1, was expressed in the brain and spinal cord while the other was not. Subsequent exon sequencing of SLC19A3.1 revealed a 4bp insertion and SNP in the second exon that is predicted to result in a functional protein truncation of 279 amino acids (c.624 insTTGC, c.625 C>A). All dogs with AHE were homozygous for this mutation, 15/41 healthy AH control dogs were heterozygous carriers while 26/41 normal healthy AH dogs were wild type. Furthermore, this mutation was not detected in another 187 dogs of different breeds. These results suggest that this mutation in SLC19A3.1, encoding a thiamine transporter protein, plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of AHE.University of California, Davis. School of Veterinary Medicine. Center for Companion Animal Healt