Latest news with #UniversityofKwaZulu-Natal
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Colonial ideas of beauty: how skin lightening products are linked to cancer in black African women
Two months after first going to hospital, a 65-year-old woman was dead – and her doctors are blaming the cosmetic creams she used on her face and body for decades. The anonymous patient, from Togo, is one of a string of recent cases reported in medical journals of cancers in black African women linked to skin-lightening creams and lotions, prompting dermatologists to call for better regulation. The melanin found in darker skin typically offers some protection against the sun damage which can cause cancers. 'Patients with black skin have a natural SPF of about 15, just by having pigmented skin,' says Prof Ncoza Dlova, head of dermatology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,. 'If they remove that melanin [with skin lightening creams], they're actually removing the natural protection.' Estimates of skin lightening product use in African countries range from 25% to 80% of women. Lighter skin is often seen as more desirable, in a trend with complex drivers including values imported in the colonial era. Dlova and colleagues are writing up a paper citing more than 55 cancer cases, from countries including Mali and Senegal. 'If we are getting self-induced skin cancer, then that's a red flag and worrying,' says Dlova. 'We have to do something about it.' The market for skin lightening product is growing, with analysts predicting that the current market size of US$10.7bn (£8bn) will reach US$18.1bn by 2033. There are even reports of the products being used on babies and young children. For Dlova, they are 'a health hazard that needs to be addressed'. Almost every day, she says, her clinic in Durban will see someone with a skin problem linked to lightening products. 'Of course, not all of them are coming with skin cancer … They come in with fungal infections that are resistant to the common treatment that we normally use. They present with pimples, referred to as steroid-induced acne, as well as rosacea. Some present with permanent stretch marks; all these complications are extremely common.' The Togo patient had three large, painful, cancerous tumours on her neck, which she had tried to treat with antibiotics, antiseptics and traditional herbal poultices with no success before going to hospital. One of the tumours was removed, but the others were too close to blood vessels and she could not afford the recommended chemotherapy. She told her doctors she had used creams that included topical hydroquinone and highly potent corticosteroids for about 30 years. In another series of eight cancers, reported in Senegal, the women had used similar products for about 20 years on average. Two of those patients died. Hydroquinone as a skin lightener has been banned in South Africa since 1990, and other African countries including Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Kenya, and Ghana followed suit. Those bans were prompted by serious concerns about an irreversible form of skin damage called ochronosis. But regulation is often weak, and the products are reportedly still available from street vendors and cosmetic shops. The use of steroids in skin lighteners is a newer phenomenon. Topical steroids are used in dermatology to treat inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema, but a side-effect is that they make skin lighter, a fact exploited for their use in cosmetics. If the two problematic ingredients are used together they can have a 'synergistic effect', Dlova says. The International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS) has published an alert warning about the dangers of misuse of potent topical steroids, and is calling for governments to better regulate the products. The problem goes beyond Africa, says the ILDS president Prof Henry Lim, with the problem first raised by its members in India. After South Africa's hydroquinone ban, there was a lull in how frequently dermatologists encountered complications of skin bleaching, Dlova says 'but again, in the last 10 years there was just a sudden eruption of the complications of skin bleaching again. Skin cancer per se had not been described before, it's only been described recently. So obviously, things have got worse – because from irreversible pigmentation [ochronosis] to skin cancer, those are really red flags implying that we need to do something about it.' While the desire for lighter skin is not new, Dlova suspects the rise of social media over the past decade has led to increased use, pointing to smartphone filters that make skin look smoother and lighter. Tackling the issue will require action from many sectors – not only regulatory agencies. 'Marketing, social media and media all have a role to play – fashion, celebrities and all of that. If they use black models who are lighter in skin colour, the message they are conveying is that you are prettier, you can be a model, you are more attractive if you are lighter. So we need to ensure that the advertisements include diverse skin colours when they are choosing their models,' says Dlova. She also wants to see skin health education in preschools to teach children to be proud of their natural skin, and to get across the message of using sunscreen. Some black patients will have skin challenges including pigmentation disorders, she says, which may require creams with lightening ingredients. But these should be used under medical supervision. Part of the ILDS advocacy will be asking pharmaceutical companies to make those prescription products more affordable, so that people do not need to turn to cheaper off-the-shelf products that may be dangerous.
IOL News
5 days ago
- Health
- IOL News
Honouring medical pioneers: Insights from UKZN's living legends panel
The University of KwaZulu-Natal's Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine this week hosted its annual 'On the Couch with Our Alumni Living Legends' panel discussion to honour four industry giants within the medical field. The living legends who were part of the panel were Dr Tshepo Motsepe who is South Africa's first lady, a physician, businesswoman, and patron of the Early Care Foundation; Professor Bilkish Cassim, an esteemed rheumatologist, academic and inaugural chair of geriatrics at UKZN; Dr Diliza Mji, founder, shareholder and director of the Busamed Group and Dr Warwick Morris, a renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon with over five decades of service. The purpose of the gathering was to honour the alumni and teachers of the medical school. Mji said when he left medical school as a specialist to go into private practice, he felt intimidated about going into practice because, at the time, there wasn't an African person in Durban who was in private practice as a surgeon. "Forced to earn a living for my family, I was forced to go to Zimbabwe to look for a job, but when they offered me a salary, I said I'm coming back home. "Practice itself then led me to go into business because I then found certain things that were happening in private practice that I was not happy about. I said one day I will do it differently and that's how I started Busamed," said Mji. Motsepe said she grew up and went to school in a rural village. "In those years you would hear about diarrhea. My mum was a midwife in the village. We used to receive an injection because of TB. There were so many deaths from TB that we got to learn about as a child. "There were so many diseases. If we had proactive ways to prevent children from dying," said Motsepe. She said after completing her internship she went to Zimbabwe on holiday and stayed on for two years and worked. "There were so many tropical illnesses, preventable illnesses, malnutrition and stunting. I later learnt there was a course I could do on maternal child health. Even now that is where I do most of my work with creches. These are owned by female entrepreneurs. That is the area where we've had the most effect of making sure that the children are in a safe and secure environment," said Motsepe. When asked what personal sacrifices and moments of resilience had shaped her path, Motsepe said at the age of nine she had to go to a boarding school after attending the rural school. "My dad did not want us to be exposed to Bantu education. My dad wanted us to get a better education. Every year in January, he used to fly to Cape Town with a lawyer and apply for us to go to a coloured school in the Eastern Cape. This was a Catholic convent. "I went at the same time with my sister. We used to spend five months of the year away from home. There was a lot of homesickness. The first day when we arrived my sister and I didn't even know English and Afrikaans," she said. She said they were thrown into an environment where outside the classes they spoke Afrikaans and the education was done in English. "But we had to cope. So we used to leave home in January, come back in June for three weeks and then go back again to the boarding school and come back in December for six weeks. That's the life that one led throughout. My younger brother was six years old when he went to boarding school and it was all to avoid bantu education. Those were the most difficult years," she said. Cassim said she has been at the university's medical school for 50 years. "To say that all my 50 years here were happy is not true. I've had some existential crises both as far as my professional work has been concerned and as well as my health. I think the two of them were related. "But I think for me what has been important is firstly to believe in yourself. Secondly is to understand that bad things happen to good people and that you're not so special that nothing bad should ever happen to you and that if something does happen to you, you are seen not only not by what happened to you but how you reacted to it," she said. Morris, who graduated from medical school in 1964, retired after 60 years in March this year. He said his initial attraction was to be an obstetrician, but after a 40-minute lecture in plastic surgery, that aroused his interest. Morris spent years training and gaining experience in plastic surgery in South Africa, the US and England. He said aesthetic surgery is on patients who are not ill, don't have a disease, don't have a deformity, they just have some aspect of their appearance about which they're unhappy. "So my philosophy towards them, I would say to them, I like to call this happiness surgery. It's all about making happy patients." SUNDAY TRIBUNE
IOL News
25-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Worrying drop in Durban business confidence index
Concerns over business confidence in Durban Image: Independent Newspapers The findings of the latest Durban Business Confidence Index (BCI) are raising concerns about future economic growth in the city, with the report indicating that businesses are increasingly pessimistic. The Business Confidence Index assesses business confidence in the city, and the latest findings highlight significant concerns regarding the overall business climate. The report is compiled by the Macroeconomics Research Unit at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The report presents the Durban BCI for the second quarter of 2025 (2025Q2). The index ranges from 0 to 100, where a score below 50 implies a lack of confidence in the Durban economy, a score of 50 indicates that the business situation is normal or neutral, and a score above 50 denotes confidence in the economy. 'The Durban BCI continued to decline for a third consecutive quarter in 2025Q2, dropping to 52.40 points from 56.32 points in the previous quarter. This suggests that businesses are becoming less optimistic about both current and future economic conditions in Durban,' the report stated. However, the report noted that, while the Durban BCI declined, it remains above the neutral zone and significantly outperforms the national BCI. The national index fell from 45 points in the first quarter of 2025 to 40 points in the current quarter. Therefore, it appears that the ongoing decline in the Durban BCI is likely driven by the national economic situation rather than factors specific to Durban, the report said. Looking at the performance of individual industries, the report noted that following a strong improvement in 2025Q1, driven by favourable weather conditions, among other factors, business confidence in the agricultural sector decreased by 51% in the second quarter. Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ This decline is primarily attributed to global uncertainties and animal diseases that affect production and market stability in the animal husbandry sub-sector. However, confidence in the agricultural sector was 1% higher in 2025Q2 than in the corresponding quarter in 2024. Manufacturing experienced a sharp decline in business confidence during the second quarter of 2025, with confidence in this sector dropping from 61.71 to 41.82 between the first and second quarters. Ongoing global trade uncertainty, weak domestic and global demand, high operating costs, infrastructure constraints, and logistical inefficiencies continue to be the main causes of this deterioration. The financial intermediation, insurance, real estate, and business services sector experienced a 2% contraction, declining from 54.85 in the first quarter of 2025 to 53.52 in the second quarter. This indicates that confidence in this sector was 0.96% lower compared to the same quarter in 2024. Business confidence in the electricity, gas, and water sector was also significantly low in the second quarter of 2025. The wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles, and personal and household goods, as well as catering and accommodation, recorded a 13% improvement in business confidence in the second quarter of 2025, rising from 43.79 in the previous quarter to 49.63 in the quarter under review. This improvement, the report said, is largely due to reductions in the cost of living, with inflation falling below the target range, coupled with the recent interest rate cut. However, this is countered by the increasing tax burden and the recent rise in the prices of petroleum products. The transport, storage, and communication sector recorded a 6% improvement in confidence, which was attributed to improved land cargo and air transport operations. The report also found that poor service delivery continues to be a concern for businesspeople in Durban. The Survey of Business Opinion, used to compute the Durban BCI for 2025Q2, reveals that 71.4% of respondents reported that if one complained about poor service delivery, it is unlikely that the local municipality would address it within a reasonable timeframe. Respondents identified environmental management (sewerage, solid waste, and parks) (28.6%) as the poorest service, followed by roads (26.8%), water (23.2%), public safety (police, fire, and ambulance) (12.5%), and electricity (8.9%). Palesa Phili, CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC, stated, 'As organised business, we believe the findings provide a true reflection of the mood of the business community in Durban. However, the sustained downward trend of the DBCI is a cause for concern. 'Despite improvements in four industries, agriculture remains a key driver of economic growth, while manufacturing plays a pivotal role in job creation. In the context of global restrictions, we must position Durban as a leading manufacturing hub and leverage our unique economic architecture—such as the Special Economic Zone and port. 'This would significantly impact employment and GDP while enhancing self-reliance. Moreover, economic reforms must be implemented to support key economic sectors in Durban. 'Furthermore, the Quarter 2 report also revealed that 71.4% of respondents stated that, when lodging a complaint regarding poor service, it was unlikely to be resolved in a timely manner. The situation remains deeply troubling. As the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC, we believe that unless structural issues—such as infrastructure, security, and basic service delivery—are urgently addressed, business confidence will continue to deteriorate. The City must prioritise addressing these issues to boost and sustain business confidence and work towards bridging the trust deficit between the private and public sectors.' Professor and economist Bonke Dumisa said, 'We are not surprised by the declining Business Confidence Index. There are too many avoidable wrongs happening in eThekwini. The issue of sewage spilling into rivers and onto the beach is totally unacceptable and could have been avoided.' THE MERCURY
New Indian Express
19-07-2025
- Science
- New Indian Express
Role of Computational Fluid Dynamics in making of missile systems highlighted in Andhra
VIJAYAWADA: The first International Conference on Computational Science and Mathematical Modelling (ICSMM) was organised by the Department of Mathematics at VIT-AP University in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, on Friday. Addressing participants of the two-day event, the Director of Computational & Fluid Dynamics at the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL)-Hyderabad, P K Sinha, highlighted the role of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the design and development of state-of-the-art missile systems and technologies required for the deterrence and defence of the country. He explained that CFDs enable engineers to analyse and optimise aerodynamic performance, structural integrity and overall system effectiveness through advanced high performance computer simulations. Academic leader of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Prof. Fortune Massamba, joined the event virtually as the guest of honour. VIT-AP Vice-Chancellor Prof. SV Kota Reddy emphasised the contribution of mathematical modelling and CFDs in numerous real-life applications and utilities. He also presented VIT-AP's efforts to promote industrypartnership and plans on academic and research fronts to contribute to the national missions on Quantum Technologies and Green Hydrogen in line with the Vision 2047.
Hans India
19-07-2025
- Science
- Hans India
VIT-AP organises meet on computational science
Amaravati: Firstinternational conference on Computational Science and Mathematical Modelling has been organised by the Department of Mathematics at VIT-AP University in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. PK Sinha, Director of Computational & Fluid Dynamics at the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad who was the chief guest, highlighted the critical role of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the design and development of state-of-the-art missile systems and technologies required for the deterrence and defence of the country. He explained that CFDs enable engineers to analyse and optimise aerodynamic performance, structural integrity and overall system effectiveness through advanced high performance computer simulations. The insights into aerodynamic parameters such as lift, drag, stability and the response of the missile control surfaces are essential for trajectory accuracy and target precision. Additionally, CFD is instrumental in evaluating thermal loads and structural stresses, thereby informing design refinements that improve performance and safety. Academic leader of University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Prof Fortune Massamba, joined the event virtually as guest of honour. Vice-Chancellor of VIT-AP Prof SV Kota Reddy emphasised the contribution of mathematical modelling and CFDs in numerous real-life applications and utilities. He also presented VIT-AP's dedicated efforts for promoting industry partnership and plans on academic and research fronts to contribute to the national missions on Quantum Technologies and Green Hydrogen in line with AP Government's Swarnandhra vision 2047. Dean of School of Advanced Sciences Prof S Srinivas extended a warm welcome to all attendees of the conference, setting a gracious tone for the event and wished for vibrant knowledge sharing sessions and new collaborations until 19 July 2025. Conference convener, Dr Prashanth Maroju elaborated on the vision and objectives of ICSMM-2025. Dr Sukanta Nayak proposed a vote of thanks for the inaugural ceremony.
