Mervyn Susser.Pdf
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
DAILY NEWS PAGE 11 VIEWS&ANALYSIS MONDAY SEPTEMBER 1 2014 calls. “Disease is a bad thing. It They call him makes you very frightened. But then we saw that they were try- ing to help us. Nobody else had the father of done this. It was very new for Doctor who made the us. Now we like to help.” modern For her the autumn red pan- els of the Africa Centre, silhou- etted against the azure blue epidemiology, African sky, are synonymous with knowledge and under- with his roots standing, a welcome beacon in world sit up and listen one of the planet’s most dis- ease-laden regions firmly in KZN. And that is exactly what the Sussers had envisioned – a “door-to-door” approach of Liz Clarke gathering information and set- ting up advisory networks to reports help families cope with what they termed “unimaginable HE death of an elderly misery”. doctor in New York They believed this was the earlier this month long-term solution to getting Twould in all possibility the answers the medical and have gone unnoticed, unher- health professional world so alded, by the inhabitants of an desperately needed. isolated rural settlement in And they were right. Northern Zululand. Scientists like Salim (Slim) Yet ask 74-year-old grand- Abdool Karim, director of the mother, Precious Majolo, or The Hlabisa village in northern Zululand. Centre of Aids Prevention and any other senior citizen from Research in South Africa the area known as Hlabisa, (Caprisa), says that Susser’s what changes have taken place MERVYN SUSSER: CAREER IN BRIEF dogged determination to help in this far-flung village of disadvantaged communities to 90 000 residents, and she will MERVYN Wilfred Susser headed by Susser struck Township. overcome disease and social lift her hands to the sky above. was born on September 26, out with a small group of In 1957, Susser was ills through practical science, “So many things have hap- 1921, in Johannesburg. A colleagues to direct a appointed lecturer in social has been one of the greatest pened here. Before we were like 1950 graduate in medicine “township” clinic, in and preventive medicine at contributions made to public the rubbish you throw away. from the University of Alexandra, Johannesburg. the University of health. Too many people sick and dy- Witwatersrand, he spent Although they began Manchester, and, in 1964, “He is the father of modern ing. Today we know a lot. We several years in community with no knowledge of reader and head. epidemiology,” says Karim. have learnt about HIV and how clinical work in the epidemiology, the effort In 1966, he was “His wisdom and foresight, to- we can stop getting the sick- Alexandra Health Centre. naturally led them to carry appointed chair of the gether with his wife, Zena’s, ness. It’s a better life, much bet- At a time when the out one of the first studies division of epidemiology at will never be forgotten – cer- ter. We can teach our children majority of the country’s of community health in the Columbia University, where tainly in this province.” what we never knew.” population was virtually developing world, published he founded the PhD Thanks to the Sussers, the ignored in medical in the Lancet in 1955 as programme in world has sat up and listened to Wind curricula, a task team Medical Care in an African epidemiology. many of the findings coming If one could unravel the from this remote part of strings back to when the wind Africa. One major project at of change blew across this bar- the founders of a new order of their “progressive” ideas of on South Africa. Hlabisa showed that exclusive ren landscape, you would find epidemiology. public health, they continued In later years, KZN became breast-feeding can be done, for at the driving wheel Mervyn “Researchers should not be their careers in public health the springboard for them to both infected and uninfected Susser, the former South foot soldiers following the dic- in the US where they found take their ideology to the next babies. This study has been African doctor whose passing tates of a bureaucratic centre,” themselves at the coalface of level, a leap of faith if ever very influential in terms of in- in the US last month, aged 93, Susser believed. “I see that as a the explosive beginning of the there was one. ternational guidelines. was mourned by academics danger to individual scientific Aids epidemic. It is a level that grandmoth- At the moment, the Africa and health professionals enterprise. Epidemiology is ul- Undaunted by political ers like Majolo know well. She, Centre has more than 6 500 peo- around the globe. Mervyn Susser and his wife, Zena. timately a science that provides threats, they were instrumen- like many others, has partici- ple on treatment and 15 000 to A maverick, in an age when the basis for public health ac- tal in organising a conference pated in the Africa Centre for 20 000 people who are not yet el- independent thinking was of- mitment that exposed them to tor, you’d best marry one. We had to be more than a numbers tion, no less the case in the era in Maputo, Mozambique, that Health and Population Studies igible for treatment who are be- ten frowned upon, Susser and the prickly side of the argue and often fiercely dis- game, a practical science that of molecular and genetic epi- brought together public health research programmes for ing monitored – testament that his wife, Zena, fought to get bet- apartheid government. agree about things, but that’s got to the root cause of chronic demiology.” experts from inside South many years. rigorous science and social jus- ter health outcomes for poor Once, describing the work how things are achieved.” illness, and sought ways to ad- For the couple, 1990 was a Africa, from the exile commu- “First, when the re- tice are the hallmarks of suc- people in South Africa during he did with Zena, he quipped: What they didn’t disagree dress it at grass-root basis. watershed year. Eventually nity and from the US to focus searchers knocked on our cess. the 50s and 60s. It was a com- “if you want a good collabora- about was that epidemiology Today they are regarded as hounded from South Africa for on the possible impact of HIV doors, we were fearful,” she re- [email protected] Doubts remain over Mozambique peace deal MAPUTO: A peace deal signed Frelimo, the former independ- ity regimes in the then Rhode- cising its role in parliament. by the Mozambican govern- ence movement that has ruled sia (today Zimbabwe) and Renamo has long accused the ment and the armed political Mozambique since independ- South Africa, Renamo waged a government of corruption and party, Renamo, is allowing peo- ence from Portugal in 1975. 16-year civil war against Fre- economic mismanagement. ple who had fled fighting, to re- But if it gets a substantial limo, whose initially Marxist The peace deal foresees an turn home. The coming elec- share of seats in parliament, regime was supported by the amnesty for Renamo members tions could determine whether that will empower it to pres- Soviet Union and Cuba. charged with crimes, its disar- the peace would be permanent. sure the government to inter- A 1992 peace deal, which mament, the reintegration of People carrying goods on pret the peace deal to its advan- turned Renamo into the coun- its fighters into the army and their heads or shoulders can be tage, says Dimpho Motsamai, a try’s main opposition party, put police force, and a more equi- seen trekking along the main Mozambique analyst at South Mozambique on the path of re- table distribution of wealth. south-north highway, on which Africa’s Institute for Security covery. But in 2012, Renamo Yet details of how the peace Renamo carried out ambushes. Studies. leader Afonso Dhlakama deal will be applied are still in Some convoys of vehicles If Renamo – which cur- launched a low-level insur- the dark. are still escorted by security rently has 51 seats in the 250- gency, accusing Frelimo of ex- Some of Renamo’s de- forces. member parliament – does cluding the opposition from mands, such as joint command Even though a peace deal has been signed in Mozambique, “Just a few days have gone badly in the elections, that power structures and from par- of the army, are clearly impos- security forces still patrol some villages. by and we don’t know how ef- could prompt it to relaunch the ticipation in the economy. sible for the government, says A forthcoming election in Mozambique could determine whether fective the peace deal is,” says military conflict that has The insurgency has in- Aditi Lalbahadur, a researcher the peace would be permanent. violence would help to ensure power Portugal, which is grap- Angelica Maquisso, a univer- plagued the African country cluded attacks against police with the South African Insti- the growth rate of more than pling with an economic crisis. sity student in Maputo. for two years, Motsamai said. stations, military barracks, tute of International Affairs. strong signal, but it would have Cadeato. 8 percent that the World Bank The big challenge, says Lal- Analysts say the key could If any party alleges fraud, railway lines and above all, am- The signing of the peace added value if it were signed by The elections will pit and the African Development bahadur, is preventing those in lie in the October 15 elections, that might open a space for Re- bushes on the north-south deal did not persuade the top leadership from both Dhlakama against former de- Bank forecast for one of power from pocketing a dispro- campaigning for which began namo to respond violently, highway.