Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/38008
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Item Assessing the inter-annual and inter-seasonal climate-induced variation in caseload of respiratory diseases(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-06) Motlogeloa, OgoneIn South Africa, acute upper respiratory diseases pose a significant public health challenge, influenced heavily by climatic factors. Recognizing the critical need for detailed seasonal analysis. This thesis delves into the inter-annual and inter-seasonal impacts of climate on disease caseloads, offering four pivotal contributions to health biometeorology. The first contribution refines the understanding of the acute upper respiratory disease season in South Africa, previously recognized as the winter months of May to September. This research provides a more granular analysis by pinpointing specific onset timings and fluctuations within the season that are crucial for optimizing healthcare responses, particularly in vaccination schedules. The second contribution is an in-depth analysis of climatic variables affecting acute upper respiratory disease prevalence. Utilizing Spearman's correlation analyses and the Distributed Lag Non-linear Model across Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Gqeberha, this study identifies negative correlations between temperature and disease cases, pinpointing significant risk thresholds most prevalent during the winter peak. The third contribution investigates the impact of extreme climate events (ECEs) over twelve years, elucidating how, while individual ECEs influence medical aid claims and disease incidence, it is the broader seasonal patterns that predominantly dictate acute upper respiratory disease prevalence. The fourth contribution offers a nuanced exploration of the climate-health nexus, demonstrating that routine weather variations play a more significant role in the peak transmission of acute upper respiratory viruses than extreme events. This thesis elucidates the substantial yet nuanced influence of climate on respiratory health in South Africa. By specifying the disease season with greater precision and clarifying the relationship between temperature variations and disease prevalence, the research provides essential data for health practitioners to plan targeted interventions. This study moves beyond the focus on extreme weather events to expose the subtler, yet more consistent, impact of seasonal climate shifts on health outcomes, enriching our understanding and serving as a vital reference for enhancing disease preparedness in an era marked by climatic uncertainty.Item The political geography of hemp Cannabis in South Africa: A development critique(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Moore, Wendell; Mnwana, Sonwabile; Wafer, AlexThe discourse on Cannabis that is generally understood in the public domain, revolves mostly around its recreational uses and more recently its medicinal potential. The plants industrial usages and overall worth to society are often framed in relation to these more popular parts of Cannabis. The study focuses its attention on hemp Cannabis to tell a different story but acknowledges that all the uses of Cannabis are interlinked. Using an extensive desktop analysis, Cannabis webinars and conferences, as well as autoethnography, the thesis shows that there is in fact more to the plant than what first meets the eye. It especially illuminates two important dimensions of Cannabis that are often overlooked when discussing the plant. Firstly, by its nature Cannabis is political, which is deeply embedded in how the plant is understood in the geographic diaspora of the Global South. Secondly, it shows that any serious social scientific analysis of contemporary Cannabis development must think through how the ways of knowing, produced during prohibition, will become a part of the plant’s future. This thesis therefore argues for an appraisal and maintenance of the historical resistances of Cannabis used prior to legalization, if its development in the legal era is to be successful. To be sure, such innovative and alternative models of practical development should become a standard part of the geographies of all work economies. Moreover, making use of these forms of resistance is not about Cannabis gaining the approval from ‘the market’. In fact, the skills learnt while labouring for Cannabis, when it was prohibited, has become such a permanent feature of its development that liberal democratic consent is not an option. Therefore, the thesis proposes that Cannabis development delink from the prohibition narratives inscribed onto the plant. It continues by showing that the current medicalisation of Cannabis only updates gatekeeping models. Hence, an agrarian alternative was suggested that consolidates all the uses of Cannabis without undermining any one part of the plant. Lastly, the thesis documents the possibilities of gaining access into the industry for black people, the poor working class and women. What it argues is that ownership, just employment and leadership of Cannabis industries in South Africa must be repurposed so that ordinary people can also play a part in making sure the plants contemporary development is truly sustainable. Taken together, this is the critique of development that the political geography of hemp Cannabis in South Africa reveals.Item The political geography of hemp Cannabis in South Africa: A development critique(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Moore, Wendell; Wafer, A; Mnwana, SThe discourse on Cannabis that is generally understood in the public domain, revolves mostly around its recreational uses and more recently its medicinal potential. The plants industrial usages and overall worth to society are often framed in relation to these more popular parts of Cannabis. The study focuses its attention on hemp Cannabis to tell a different story but acknowledges that all the uses of Cannabis are interlinked. Using an extensive desktop analysis, Cannabis webinars and conferences, as well as autoethnography, the thesis shows that there is in fact more to the plant than what first meets the eye. It especially illuminates two important dimensions of Cannabis that are often overlooked when discussing the plant. Firstly, by its nature Cannabis is political, which is deeply embedded in how the plant is understood in the geographic diaspora of the Global South. Secondly, it shows that any serious social scientific analysis of contemporary Cannabis development must think through how the ways of knowing, Produced during prohibition, will become a part of the plant’s future. This thesis therefore argues for an appraisal and maintenance of the historical resistances of Cannabis used prior to legalization, if its development in the legal era is to be successful. To be sure, such innovative and alternative models of practical development should become a standard part of the geographies of all work economies. Moreover, making use of these forms of resistance is not about Cannabis gaining the approval from ‘the market’. In fact, the skills learnt while labouring for Cannabis, when it was prohibited, has become such a permanent feature of its development that liberal democratic consent is not an option. Therefore, the thesis proposes that Cannabis development delink from the prohibition narratives inscribed onto the plant. It continues by showing that the current medicalisation of Cannabis only updates gatekeeping models. Hence, an agrarian alternative was suggested that consolidates all the uses of Cannabis without undermining any one part of the plant. Lastly, the thesis documents the possibilities of gaining access into the industry for black people, the poor working class and women. What it argues is that ownership, just employment and leadership of Cannabis industries in South Africa must be repurposed so that ordinary people can also play a part in making sure the plants contemporary development is truly sustainable. Taken together, this is the critique of development that the political geography of hemp Cannabis in South Africa reveals.