The Mangaung-University of the Free State Community Partnership Program (MUCPP) was established in 1991 as part of a grant funded by a US company, the Kellogg Foundation. Kellogg invited all universities in South Africa to present proposals in which they partnered with the community, and the University of the Free State won. The aim of MUCPP is to learn for students and faculty to learn from each other and to assist one another.
The MUCPP is based off of the needs of the Community of Mangaung. Those included poverty and disempowerment, basic needs (housing, roads, water, sewage disposal, and electricity), recreational facilities, social services (for women, children, and the elderly), social problems (teenage pregnancies and substance abuse), lack of (early) learning opportunities and school readiness, adult illiteracy, and the unavailability and inaccessibility of medical services and the insensitivity of health care personnel. Today, student for the disciplines of health, economic, agricultural, construction, education/training, sport/recreation, youth/culture, and administration studies all help to make the goal of the MUCPP possible.
The dieticians of the MUCPP go out in to the community in the hopes of lowering the rates of HIV, TB, and malnutrition among the population of the townships. Normally, they will go out in their mobile health unit, but due to the faulty breaks, we won't be using it this week.
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| Since the unit is broken this week, you can enjoy Ryland's photo with our "security guard" and the van! |
Mrs. Kruger gave me an outline of the nutritional supplementation policy and a breakdown of some of the different supplements that they prescribe to the community members and when it is appropriate to prescribe them. She also explained the coding for indication of HIV status within health care charts. It's quite complicated and I can't imagine having to use it on a daily basis. However, on the newer birth charts, the HIV status of the mother and baby can be clearly stated without any of the cryptic coding previously used.
The biggest thing that she explained to me was the community survey that they use when they talk to the households. It goes a little something like this:
The biggest thing that she explained to me was the community survey that they use when they talk to the households. It goes a little something like this:
- The date of the interview, name and address of the client are recorded\
- The composition of the household is taken (how many people living in the house and their ages)
- Weight and height status of adults or children that may appear malnourished
- The head of household, the sole provider of money, and how many people contribute to household income are recorded
- Main type of income (grant, full time job, part time job)
- Inquiry about water access and consumption
- Inquiry about the use of a vegetable garden (the dieticians will hand out vegetable seeds for the people in the townships to create their own vegetable gardens)
- Inquiry about family members and disease/illness status
- Inquiry about the frequency in which the baby/children and adults visit the community health clinic
- Inquiry about the use of family planning, drugs, and alcohol
- Diet history
- Counseling dependent on what has been learned through the interview
I saw a couple of these conducted yesterday, but they were all done in Sotho, so I didn't really understand what exactly was going on.
Tomorrow we are attending a special lecture that the department suggested we go to, so I will not be doing anything MUCPP related...but it will be back to the grind on Thursday!
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