Health sciences

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Contains a huge collection of nutrition links oriented towards the health professional.

Ingwavuma Orphan Care seeks to appoint a Social worker

Environmental Affairs and Tourism minister Valli Moosa has commended the University of Natal's efforts to bring occupational and environmental health issues under the spotlight. The minister was speaking in Durban yesterday at the official launch of the new occupational and environmental health facility at the institution's Nelson R. Mandela Medical School. In partnership with government and the private sector, the centre aims to increase capacity in occupational health through education and training programmes. Issues to be addressed by the centre's researchers include waterborne diseases, waste (biomedical, hazardous, solid, liquid), sanitation and airborne and respiratory diseases. Delivering the keynote address at the launch, Mr Moosa said education and research in universities were essential for improving the consciousness of people on environmental health issues.He added that many developing countries were still faced with a problem where workers were often illiterate and untrained in the proper use and disposal of toxic chemicals and pollutants. Global industrialisation and world trade in chemicals has grown faster than the flow of information and awareness about associated health and environmental risks. To deal with this problem, the minister mentioned that his department was working together with the health department on a pollution and waste management strategy.Furthermore, the Draft Air Quality Bill, which was currently being developed by his department, would make provision for stricter emission standards for incinerators.(Source: BUANews, 11 March 2003).

Environmental health and occupational hygiene, within the context of a district hospital, were identified as important health components for which norms and standards needed to be determined. The Health Systems Trust, on behalf of the National Health Department, tasked the Unit for Environmental Health Research of the Port Elizabeth Technikon to identify these norms and standards and, where possible, indicate mechanisms that could be applied to monitor the status of the relevant service components. The result of this research is contained in this document in the form of the relevant norms and standards for environmental health and occupational hygiene that are applicable to district hospitals.

This manual is targeted at personnel who are working at a district level and could play a role in combating malnutrition.

Post-Graduate Training: 2001 Diploma In Health Services Management and Diploma In Occupational Health are offered by the University Of Natal, Nelson R Mandela School Of Medicine, Department Of Community Health

Like health, good nutrition is the outcome of many and multiple factors. Nutrition is affected by the policies and activities of numerous sectors, including agriculture, finance, health, education, water and environmental affairs and welfare. That is why problems of poor nutrition in South African communities need to be addressed in a comprehensive and integrated manner, and a previous editorial has argued for leadership from the Health Ministry in developing a common national strategy for good nutrition in South Africa.