Mzantsi Wakho Podcast

HIV, democracy and adolescents in South Africa: An introduction to the Mzantsi Wakho study, by Rebecca Hodes.

In this first episode we speak to Rebecca Hodes, who is the principal investigator of Mzantsi Wakho’s qualitative research. She is the Director of the AIDS and Society Research Unit, University of Cape Town, and an Honourary Affiliate of the Department of Social Policy and Investigation, Oxford University. Hodes studied history at Rhodes University, and received an M.Sc in the History of Medicine, Science and Technology and a D.Phil from Oxford University.

She has published a monograph, Broadcasting the Pandemic: A History of HIV on South African Television (HSRC: Cape Town, 2014). Her academic work has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals, including African Affairs, the South African Medical Journal, the Journal of the International AIDS Society, and the Journal of Southern African Studies, as well as numerous edited volumes and collected editions.

Framing quantitative research in the Mzantsi Wakho study, by Elona Toska.

Elona Toska is a post-doctoral research fellow at the AIDS and Society Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. She is a Research Associate at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford. She was born in Albania, but has spent most of her life practicing legal migration in the United Kingdom, United States, South East Asia, and since 2012 - South Africa where she has been involved with Mzantsi Wakho since its inception.

Framing qualitative findings in the Mzantsi Wakho study, by Beth Vale

In this episode we speak to Dr. Beth Vale a former project manager on the Mzantsi Wakho project, who got involved back 2012 when it was in its infant stages of planning at Oxford University as well as the University of Cape Town. She has a background in community health work with her Master’s degree at UCT on this subject co-supervised by Mzantsi Wakho co-Principal Investigator Dr. Rebecca Hodes. Professor Lucie Cluver was the co-supervisor of her Oxford doctorate.’Dr Beth Vale is currently working at a policy think tank called the Mapungubwe Institute.

Revelations and challenges within the qualitative team, by Mildred Thabeng, Kanya Makabane and Sinebhongo Mbula

Mildred Thabeng is from Pretoria, and is currently based in the Eastern Cape as a senior research assistant on the Mzantsi Wakho study. After finishing high school, Mildred moved to the Eastern Cape to study social work at UNISA, while volunteering at the Keiskamma Trust (an NGO that works in the rural area of Hamburg). Between 2012 and 2013, Mildred collaborated with Beth Vale, an Mzansti Wakho qualitative researcher who completed her doctorate in 2015, researching medicines-taking among adolescents. Mildred has worked within both the qualitative and quantitative components of the Mzantsi Wakho study. She has collaborated with Rebecca Hodes since 2014, focusing on sexual and reproductive health among adolescents, and more broadly on the lived experiences of teenagers, their caregivers, and their healthcare workers, spanning the decades of South Africa’s democratic transition. Mildred has copious experience in conducting ethnographic research, including focus groups, participatory exercises, and observations. Her future plans include studying for a degree in the Humanities, and working within the field of research and development.

Kanya Makabane was born in Mdantsane, a township near to the city of East London in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. He studied Marketing at tertiary education level, and has worked periodically in business. In 2014, Kanya began working for Mzantsi Wakho as a community guide, and was soon promoted to the position of research assistant. From 2014-2015, he worked within both the qualitative and quantitative research teams, conducting copious interviews and observations with study participants. In 2018, Kanya rejoined the project as a research assistant. He conducts interviews and focus groups, and spends a great deal of time on transcription. He also manages the field budget, in collaboration with other colleagues. Speaking about his work within the project, Kanya says: ‘Mzantsi Wakho has brought some fresh air into my life, and reignited the passion I have for people.

Sinebhongo is from King William’s Town and joined Mzantsi Wakho in March 2017 after being fully trained in ‘electrical infrastructure’. Sinebhongo works in both the King WIlliams Town and East London study sites, playing a key role in qualitative and quantitative data collection. In the future, Sinebhongo was planning to return the electrical infrastructure, but is now enjoying the project so much that he may want to change gears.

A project manager and community liaison explains the complexities and difficulties of her work in the Eastern Cape, by Nokubonga Philiswa Mjo

Nokubonga Mjo (Philiswa Popi) was born Engcobo , Transkei at Eqolweni location and moved to King Williams Town , Eastern Cape as i got married with a guy from King , I started schooling in Engcobo and later on moved to Johannesburg as my mother staying there , thats where i fished up my education . After that i have work have worked at Willards Travel for a year and moved to PE Dioceses project where we were tracing the defaulters and send them back to treatment because of funding it closed buy the end of March 2014 . In October 2014 its when i started to work for Mzantsi Wakho as a research assistant where we doing home visits interviewing the participants in their homes and was promoted to liaising officer here i was keeping the good relations between the Project Stake holders and the community ,from this to being na APM still doing the same and seeing that the team has all the right information,packs, and to what i am now a Project Manager here i am seeing that all things at the office running smooth in the office looking after staff , seeing that we have all the the materials that the team uses are available and also keeping all the relations with our stake holders and community and good and reporting back to our Oxford/ORSA as our head office and making sure that everything is running smooth at the office.

A project co-ordinator describes the importance of the study locally and globally, by Mavis Nobuhle.

Mavis Nobuhle doubles up as the Assistant Project Manager and Community Liaison Officer. Her job largely revolves around planning and coordinating fieldwork activities, networking, as well as relationship building with relevant stakeholders. She would like to see herself at the forefront of other community development projects especially those addressing the needs of the poor.

The study’s clinics co-ordinator describes the challenges and possibilities of collaborating with healthcare workers and HIV-positive adolescents, by Nonthuthuzelo Bungane.

Nontuthuzelo Bungane is a professional nurse, with a degree in Nursing Education and Administration. She has vast experience in clinical care, training and mentoring of healthcare workers. This experience awarded her an opportunity to acquire the position of a clinic research coordinator in Mzantsi Wakho in 2015. Her contribution/role focused on health-related issues. The data collected by her team, the clinics research team within the Mzantsi Wakho study, has contributed towards policy-making for better health outcomes.

Why the study was done, and what we have learnt, by Lucie Cluver

Lucie Cluver is a Professor of Child and Family Social Work, in the Centre for Evidence-Based Social Intervention in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, and an Honorary Lecturer in Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town.

Thanks to our partners, funders and supporters, by Mildred Thabeng, Kanya Makabane and Sinebhongo Mbula