Tag

South Africa

Oct 16
8

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

By | Work update

Just like any global project, Erasmus+ KA2 MEGA was heavily affected by COVID-19 and the travelling restrictions caused by the pandemic. At the beginning of the year, MEGA was approaching the last and most important milestones of the project. Based on the initial project timeline, 2020 was going to be the final year to implement the remaining part of the project activities. Many activities that had already begun suddenly reached a critical stage and, stopping them completely, could cause long-term damage for the overall project. Unfortunately, one of the most critical deliverables – “Field testing of the MEGA app” – was also among the activities whose execution risked being put to a halt completely. Read More

Oct 09
7

Partner meeting in Cape Town

By | Partner meeting
The 6th face to face MEGA partner meeting, organised by the team from Stellenbosch University, took place between 25 and 27 September 2019. The meeting was held at the Protea Hotel by Marriott in the Cape Town suburb of Durbanville. Twenty-seven attendees, representing all nine of the partner universities took part. Read More

Oct 02
7

Meet the team – University of Pretoria

By | Meet the team

The University of Pretoria (UP) is a multi-faculty research-intensive university that has remained among the top South African universities in research output and impact. UP is also the top producer of graduates in the country. UP currently has more than 50 000 students and has become one of the leading higher education institutions on the continent. Its nine faculties and business school offer a diverse range of degrees, diplomas and certificates, over 1 000 of which are postgraduate programmes. Read More

Sep 25
7

Mobile application pilot in the Free State

By | Work update

South Africans are in dire straits as a vast part of the economy shut down and the country went into lockdown for months. As a result of job losses and businesses closing down, millions of people are going hungry every day. Worldwide, mental illness has been on the rise, and anecdotally, the pandemic is further compounding the situation. Read More

Dec 18
7

Training of trainers workshop in Cape Town

By | Partner meeting, Work update

On the 27th of September 2019, the highly anticipated MEGA “Training the Trainer” workshop was held in Cape Town. In the months leading up, we had worked hard to incorporate all the valuable feedback from primary health care workers and students from Zambia, South Africa and Germany who had taken part in the piloting phase. Read More

Nov 05
8

Meet the team – University of Cape Town

By | Meet the team

UCT aspires to be a world-class African institution, and in line with that vision our Department endeavours to be a leading Department of academic excellence that produces transformative and integrative teaching, research, healthcare and public service relevant to mental illness and well-being in local, African and global contexts. Read More

Sep 25
8

Pilot training: University of the Free State

By | Work update

As the MEGA app is continuing development, the training materials for nurses on mental health and health care are ready for testing and implementation. The pilot test was carried out by the UFS team in actual settings. The training was conducted in a boardroom of the Heidedal Community Health Centre (CHC) at the Pelonomi Hospital in the Free State province. Despite the clinics being busy with their daily work, the training was prioritised, and one nurse and one social worker of the clinic were released for the pilot training for one full day. Read More

Sep 11
9

Meet the team – Stellenbosch University (SU)

By | Meet the team

Stellenbosch University (SU) is home to an academic community of 29 000 students as well as 3 000 permanent staff members on five campuses. The University is amongst South Africa’s leading tertiary institutions based on research output, student pass rates and rated scientists, and is recognised internationally as an academic institution of excellence. Read More

Nov 16
7

Free State Provincial Health Research Day

By | Dissemination, Work update

It is clear that there is need for more training on mental health issues for nurses in public health care according to the very preliminary findings from the MEGA project survey conducted in the Mangaung Municipality. This was our message in the 7th Annual Free State Provincial Health Research Day held on 9 November 2018, at the University of the Free State.  Read More

May 31
9
MEGA project consortium

Partner meeting at UFS

By | Partner meeting

The objective of the 3-year MEGA project is to develop and introduce an assessment tool to be used on a smartphone to help treat mental health problems of children and adolescents. The application will be designed to be user-friendly so that primary health care centres in rural areas benefit from it as well. The project will train individuals in the use of the application in universities, who in turn will train healthcare staff in South Africa and Zambia. The project also involves research activities, namely: a doctoral dissertation and Master student thesis. Read More

May 11
6
MEGA project consortium

Kick-off meeting in Pretoria

By | Partner meeting

The MEGA project was born in Riga in the autumn of 2015 during the European Conference of Mental Health. Mari Lahti and Heikki Ellilä, Principal Lecturers at Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS) participated in the conference arrangements and met a colleague from South Africa, Ronelle Jansen. Together they started to consider different opportunities for future project collaboration. Ronelle’s words, “even the poorest of the poor have a smartphone in Africa” stayed in their mind. In fact, these were the words that created the project. Read More

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