The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Urban Futures Centre will host the AIDS Foundation of South Africa and The Florence Foundation Seminar Presentation entitled: Using technology to improve refugee and migrant access to sexual and reproductive health care.
Giving more insight into the topic will be Deborah Ewing, Emma Goutte-Gattat and Aron Hagos Tesfai, at the Steve Biko Campus, on Wednesday, 16 May 2018 from 2pm.
In terms of the topic choice, a community research has been conducted by the Florence Foundation to enhance knowledge and prevalence of HIV/AIDS and health risky behaviours amongst refugee and migrant communities in Durban, South Africa.
In support of their work done, the AIDS Foundation of South Africa has developed a USDD format questionnaire with the goal to assess the sexual and reproductive health needs of refugees and migrants in South Africa. USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a global system for Mobile (GSM) communication technology that is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application programme in the network. The USDD format questionnaire will be launched at a date soon to be revealed, allowing people to reach it easily, and most of all anonymously. It already exists in English and in French, and will be translated soon into Portuguese and Swahili.
Biography:
Deborah Ewing is a writer and researcher with a focus on children’s rights, sexual and reproductive health rights, gender and marginalization. She has led national and international studies on these and other topics. Deborah is the Advocacy Manager at the AIDS Foundation of South Africa, based in Durban.
Emma Goutte-Gattat is a French student in languages and member of the HIV/AIDS organisation in France. She is currently an intern at the HIV/AIDS Foundation for six weeks, as a participant in the questionnaire project.
Aron Hagos Tesfai is from Erytrea and a member of Florence Foundation and a social cohesion advocate. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
Pictured: One of the presenters, Deborah Ewing.
Waheeda Peters
