DOCSLIB.ORG

Outline of Thesis

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Outline of Thesis OUTLINE OF THESIS This thesis is presented as six chapters, some of which contain several sections. These are followed by the list of references, and finally the appendices, which contain examples of the research instruments and extracts showing the analysis of the data. The chapters are presented as follows: Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Literature Review and Theoretical Framework Chapter 3 Positionality Statement Chapter 4 Research Methodology Chapter 5 Results and Analysis Chapter 6 Discussion and Conclusion In quoting from the data, codes or pseudonyms have been used in accordance with University of the Witwatersrand ethics requirements to protect the identity of the respondents. All quotes have been transcribed as written by the students, without any correction of spelling or grammatical errors. Where possible, the data (particularly the interviews) have been checked by the participants and have been used in this thesis with their permission. The terms that have been used in this thesis conform to common usage of these terms in the science education literature. However, in some cases, these make use of the negative as a ‘catch all’ phrase, for example ‘non-Western’ or 'non-Christian'. In South Africa, the negative has carried a racist connotation in some cases, for example the use of ‘non- European’ as a descriptor for Black South Africans, where the use of the 'non' acted to create an inferior 'other'. Consequently 'South African' or 'African' have been used wherever possible, with Black, White and Indian being used to denote the different race groups making up the research sample. The capitalization of these descriptors is extended to the use of 'Western' as opposed to 'African' beliefs or epistemology or science, and to proper nouns such as the 'Earth', 'Moon' and 'Sun'. This thesis supports the call to recognize and value other ways of knowing and suggests a simple way to act on this that will not compromise the personal beliefs of the educator or student, but act to prevent the erection of barriers to learning and possibly serve to reduce those that already exist. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND 3 1.1.1 South Africa 1.1.2 Astronomy education 1.1.3 The current study 1.2 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 7 1.3 AIM OF THE STUDY 10 1.4 THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS 10 1.5 RATIONALE 10 1.6 LIMITATIONS 12 1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 13 2 CHAPTER 1 “A lot of White people – this is what I think and it makes sense to me – basically, I think a lot of White people, they understand this Universe thing well than a lot of us Black people. I don’t know why… I don’t know why it’s like that. They seem to have a better understanding of this solar system, Universe, everything like that. I’ve tried to understand why it’s like that, but I have been failing to. But, that’s what I think. And they always show interest… you know? There is a major difference though, between a Black man trying to show interest in the Universe and things like that – you know, the solar system and the stars, things like that … but for White people, they always show that kind of interest – they even understand it better. They can even explain it to you and maybe you will get something you maybe didn’t even know.” (Madala, interview, 2004) 1.1 BACKGROUND 1.1.1 South Africa It has long been a cause for concern in science education that learners who come from a background based in traditional culture appear to struggle more than their Western counterparts in the meaningful learning of science (Abimbola, 1977; Adeyinka, Kyeleve and Yandila, 1999; Aikenhead, 1996; Ogunniyi, 1995). In South Africa, recent research into the state of science and mathematics education by the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), described the poor performance and participation in mathematics and science as a 'national crisis', with the effects being “most evident in respect of African learners” (Bernstein, Clynick and Lee, 2004, 23). In 2002, only 7 129 African learners passed Higher Grade science1, representing only 14% of the total number of Senior Certificate passes (Ibid.)2. Concern about the poor quality of teaching and learning is shared by politicians, parents, economists, business people and universities, with the low numbers of graduates in mathematics and science being seen as “holding back African advancement” and “placing a huge obstacle in the way of achieving almost all the government’s ambitions to open up vast new areas of opportunity for Black South Africans” (Ibid.). The common purpose of initiatives in South Africa to improve mathematics and 1 "Science" refers to Physical Science in terms of the South African curriculum. Physical Science is usually simply referred to as 'science', while Biological Science is referred to as 'biology' and Earth Science is included in 'geography'. 2 Similar demographic statistics for 2005 / 6 were unobtainable, but the pass rate overall for Higher Grade Physical Science at matric level in 2005 was 48% (Department of Education statistics, accessed through the Independent Schools Association of South Africa, 30th November, 2006). 3 science education is related to the “fact that these subjects are increasingly important to any economy that wishes to compete in the global economy” (Ibid., 5), indicating that these initiatives have economic advancement as a common driver. The consequence of the results of research such as that conducted by the CDE, which highlights the low levels of achievement in these subjects is further research, directed at improving teaching and learning in these areas. This includes studies which focus on multicultural education, where the potential effect of worldview on learning is investigated. In this context, issues that may form barriers to learning - and how to overcome them - come under the spotlight, but broader issues are also raised, such as questions regarding the unexamined extension of the hegemony of Western science in comparison to other ways of knowing. South African society is enormously diverse in terms of culture, and since South Africa’s historic change to a democratic government in 1994, the development of the national education policy has been transformed as a result of its alignment with South Africa’s internationally acclaimed constitution which gives status and recognition to people regardless of race, gender or religion. The apartheid era educational system, Christian National Education (CNE) - one of the most important apartheid structures to be dismantled after the 1994 elections - has been replaced with Outcomes Based Education (OBE) which has been designed to be culturally sensitive and to address the inequalities of the past. Because OBE is based on a constructivist approach, the focus is on learning which builds on prior knowledge, as well as on learning outcomes, rather than on transmission and the assessment of rote learning. One of the most exciting developments in the new curriculum has been the explicit recognition of the presence of ‘other ways of knowing’ in South Africa’s ‘Rainbow Nation’. These 'other ways of knowing', or as they are becoming commonly known, Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), have been described in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS, which covers Reception to Grade 9), as “a body of knowledge embedded in African philosophical thinking and social practices that have evolved over thousands of years” (Department of Education, 2002 (a), 9). The importance of these other worldviews is recognized in Learning Outcome 3 in the RNCS for the Natural Sciences, while in the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) which provides the curriculum for Grades 10 to 12, the need to value indigenous knowledge is given as one of the underlying principles of the new curriculum (Department of Education, 2003). The draft document of the NCS (Department of Education (b), 2002) required that these culturally based 'other ways of knowing' should be 'recognized and valued'. This wording was somewhat altered in the final NCS document (Department of Education, 2003), to state that the wide diversity of knowledge systems through which people made sense of, and attached meaning to the world in which they live, was to be recognised, and that the NCS had 'infused' IKS into the subject statements. However, the implicit requirement that there should be recognition or at least acknowledgement, if not valuing, of these 'other ways of knowing', remains embodied in the principles of this curriculum. Yet neither the RNCS nor 4 the NCS provide any guidelines on how these other worldviews should be acknowledged, nor how IKS should be incorporated into a science curriculum that continues to be based on a positivist Western epistemology. This study, which falls into the broad spectrum of research in multiculturalism in science education, is an investigation of the cultural barriers to learning experienced by South African university foundation and first year students, in a course in basic astronomy offered at the University of the Witwatersrand. Astronomy is an ancient science, with knowledge of the heavenly bodies stretching back into the written and oral histories of past cultures. But it is also an ultra-modern science that has allowed for manned space travel and the means to explain the formation of the Universe and the solar system. This modern ‘Western’ science has enabled us to collect Moon rocks and perform laser surgery on human foetuses; it has created genetically modified foods, satellite television and cellular phones, as well as weapons of mass destruction and global warming. It has created a knowledge system that is different and separate from the traditional knowledge systems that have evolved over thousands of years - and in a relatively short time, it has been disseminated by colonialism and entrenched by globalization in countries all over the world.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING in a LARGE METROPOLITAN AREA in SOUTH AFRICA by MAXWEL MAKHANGALA MASEKO Submitted in Accordance Wi
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Unisa Institutional Repository GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING IN A LARGE METROPOLITAN AREA IN SOUTH AFRICA by MAXWEL MAKHANGALA MASEKO submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION At the University of South Africa Supervisor: Prof G Ferreira Co-supervisor: Dr M Reddy v KEYWORDS The keywords of this study as defined in section 1.8 of Chapter 1 of this study are as follows; Budget, Gender Responsive Budgeting, Gender Equality, Gender Mainstreaming, Municipality, Metropolitan Municipality, Integrated Development Plan, Government, Service Delivery vi ABSTRACT South Africa started the Women’s Budget Initiative in 1995 as part of its commitment to meeting its gender equality objectives and gender mainstreaming. However, in later years, research has found that government Gender Responsive Budgeting or GRB initiatives in South Africa are either dormant or dead. There is a range of reasons for this and some of them are not directly related to gender budgets or even gender. Research has shown that perhaps the greatest weakness is the lack of advocacy. From the review of existing literature, it is clear that there is a need for strong alliances between key stakeholders, which are Parliament, non-governmental organisations, academics, United Nations and the media to sustain the momentum of the gender budget process. Capacity building and training are also important for budget officers, civil society, national and local parliamentarians, given the low level of skilled financial personnel in municipalities. The availability of adequate sex-disaggregated data is an important success factor for municipalities so that they can deliver services equitably to their communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Community-Integrated GIS for Land Reform in South Africa
    Community-integrated GIS for Land Reform in South Africa Daniel Weiner and Trevor M. Harris Abstract: This article examines the role that GIS plays in how people view, exploit, and manage their physical resource base. The research contributes to the growing Participatory GIS literature and offers insight gained from the implementation of a Community-integrated GIS in South Africa. The Central Lowveld CiGIS explored landscape politics and struggles through the inclusion of socially differentiated community spatial stories and cognitive maps in a GIS to produce representations of local and regional political ecologies. Non-hegemonic ways of knowing and exploiting nature and environment were incorporated into the multimedia GIS. The paper provides conceptual and methodological guidance for integrating local community knowledge with geo-spatial technologies. The connection, however, to local policy making proved difficult to sustain because of dramatic policy and personnel changes within national and regional implementation agencies in the transition to post-apartheid government. Introduction conventional planning projects that peripherally involve targeted Almost a decade after the first democratic government was elected beneficiaries. This is the case in contemporary South Africa, where in South Africa, the euphoria of transformation and reconcilia- a neo-liberal macroeconomic framework, combined with a long tion has begun to recede. While there have been improvements in history of top-down and highly bureaucratic decision making, basic service provision for some South Africans since the transfer has created a planning environment that remains situated within of power in June 1994, the redistribution of economic and en- a modernization framework. vironmental resources has been slow and uneven (Khosa 2002).
    [Show full text]
  • GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING in a LARGE METROPOLITAN AREA in SOUTH AFRICA by MAXWEL MAKHANGALA MASEKO Submitted in Accordance Wi
    GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING IN A LARGE METROPOLITAN AREA IN SOUTH AFRICA by MAXWEL MAKHANGALA MASEKO submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION At the University of South Africa Supervisor: Prof G Ferreira Co-supervisor: Dr M Reddy v KEYWORDS The keywords of this study as defined in section 1.8 of Chapter 1 of this study are as follows; Budget, Gender Responsive Budgeting, Gender Equality, Gender Mainstreaming, Municipality, Metropolitan Municipality, Integrated Development Plan, Government, Service Delivery vi ABSTRACT South Africa started the Women’s Budget Initiative in 1995 as part of its commitment to meeting its gender equality objectives and gender mainstreaming. However, in later years, research has found that government Gender Responsive Budgeting or GRB initiatives in South Africa are either dormant or dead. There is a range of reasons for this and some of them are not directly related to gender budgets or even gender. Research has shown that perhaps the greatest weakness is the lack of advocacy. From the review of existing literature, it is clear that there is a need for strong alliances between key stakeholders, which are Parliament, non-governmental organisations, academics, United Nations and the media to sustain the momentum of the gender budget process. Capacity building and training are also important for budget officers, civil society, national and local parliamentarians, given the low level of skilled financial personnel in municipalities. The availability of adequate sex-disaggregated data is an important success factor for municipalities so that they can deliver services equitably to their communities. This research is exploratory in nature and focuses on assessing GRB in one of South Africa’s largest urban municipalities.
    [Show full text]
  • Africa's Soft Power : Philosophies, Political Values, Foreign Policies and Cultural Exports / Oluwaseun Tella
    “This seven-chapter book is a powerful testimonial to consummate African scholarship. Its analysis is rigorous, insightful, lucid and authoritative, providing fresh perspectives on selected uniquely African philosophies, and the potential­ ities, deployment and limitations of soft power in Africa’s international relations. The author rigorously Africanises the concept, broadening its analytic scope from its biased Western methodology, thus brilliantly fulfilling that great African pro­ verb made famous by the inimitable Chinua Achebe: ‘that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter’. This is truly an intellectual tour de force.” W. Alade Fawole, Professor of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. “This book addresses an important tool in the arsenal of foreign policy from an African perspective. African states have significant soft power capacities, although soft power is not always appreciated as a lever of influence, or fully integrated into countries’ foreign policy strategies. Tella takes Nye’s original concept and Africanises it, discussing Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa via their respective philosophies of Pharaonism, Harambee, Omolúwàbí and Ubuntu. This study is a critical contribution to the literature on African foreign policies and how to use soft power to greater effect in building African agency on the global stage.” Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, Chief Executive, South African Institute of International Affairs, Johannesburg, South Africa. “Soft power is seldom associated with African states, given decades bedevilled by coup d’états, brazen dictatorships and misrule. This ground-breaking book is certainly a tour de force in conceptualising soft power in the African context.
    [Show full text]
  • Violent Protests and Gendered Identities
    Perspectives Violent protests and gendered identities Yandisa Sikweyiya1 Gender and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria; School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Sebenzile Nkosi Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria ABSTRACT In post-apartheid South Africa there has been a proliferation of public protests occurring in various contexts. While public protests are common globally, in South Africa they appear to be uniquely characterised by extreme forms of violence. The current analysis of public protests suggests that the root causes of public protests are socio-economic and political. However, the role of gendered identities is missing in analyses of violence in public protests. In this perspective, we argue that violent public protests in post-apartheid South Africa are linked to gendered identities in their intersection with race, socio-economic status and social class. First, we contend that public protest violence is due to the gendered division of public and private spaces. In line with this, we claim that, public protests as public phenomena become masculinised such that women are represented as virtually absent or with insignificant contribution to public protests while men tend to be more visible, take the lead, and draw from hypermasculine practices in their approach. Second, we argue that public protests become violent due to the ongoing marginalisation of unemployed and working-class men, which tend to be race based in South Africa. Last, we argue that violence in public protests is due to protection of privilege status by hegemonic groups which invokes radical attempts for inclusion by protesters.
    [Show full text]
  • Families and Households in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Socio-Demographic Perspectives
    Families and households in post-apartheid South Africa: Socio-demographic perspectives Edited by Acheampong Yaw Amoateng & Tim B Heaton www.hsrcpress.ac.za from download Free HSRC SD_title.indd 1 6/6/07 10:15:04 AM www.hsrcpress.ac.za from Published by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za download First published 2007 Free ISBN 978-0-7969-2190-1 © 2007 Human Sciences Research Council Copy-edited by Vaun Cornell Typeset by Robin Taylor Cover design by comPress Print management by comPress Distributed in Africa by Blue Weaver Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 www.oneworldbooks.com Distributed in Europe and the United Kingdom by Eurospan Distribution Services (EDS) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 0856; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7379 0609 www.eurospangroup.com/bookstore Distributed in North America by Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Call toll-free: (800) 888 4741; Fax: +1 (312) 337 5985 www.ipgbook.com Contents Tables and figures iv Preface vii Acronyms and abbreviations ix Chapter 1 Social and economic context of families and households in South Africa 1 Acheampong Yaw Amoateng & Linda M Richter Chapter 2 Towards a conceptual framework for families and households 27 Acheampong Yaw Amoateng Chapter 3 Living arrangements in South Africa 43 Acheampong Yaw Amoateng, Tim B Heaton & Ishmael Kalule-Sabiti Chapter 4 The economic well-being of the family: Households’ access to resources in South Africa, 1995–2003 61 Daniela Casale & Chris Desmond Chapter 5 www.hsrcpress.ac.za Family formation and dissolution
    [Show full text]
  • Segvegutio N, Desegregation and De-Rucidzisu Tio N
    spotlight the way these themes impact on an important aspect of city CHAPTER SIX life - the classic 'brown' environmental issues - in a politically democratic but unequal social context. This book sheds light on the changing social structure of Durban in Segvegutio n, Desegregation and particular, but its inadequacies in this regard are fairly manifest. Further research is badly needed on many other milieux in South African society. De-RucidZisu tion As this volume can demonstrate, for instance, the remarkable terrain of Cato Manor gets a lot of deserved attention (see also Maylam and Edwards Racial Politics and the City of Durban1 1996). This erstwhile farm was divided into Indian smallholdings and became the site of a massive African shackland in the 1940s. It was the scene of the worst incidences ofviolence in the so-called race riots between BRIJ MAHARAJ Africans and Indians in 1949, in fact it was largely a struggle by Africans, perhaps under the sway of enterprising individuals, to drive Indians out of this quite central area. Then Cato Manor residents were resettled in Indian and African Group Areas apart from small remnant populations. The strategic central state idea to turn this area into a white residential core proved totally impractical. Eventually, the large district was conceded is chapter examines the origins, implementation and the demise to the Indian administration but, in good part due to the machinations Tof racial segregation in Durban through an abstraction of specific of speculators, it only began to be demarcated for a new lndian settlement moments in the history of the city.
    [Show full text]
  • Meeting New Challenges Domesticworkers' Leader Ontour
    MEETING NEW CHALLENGES I t has been a tough year for our con­ cerns in Washington. Congress has slashed programs for the poor in the US. and in Africa. Jesse Helms has found allies in his call for U.S. isola­ tion from the world. As the mood and tide seem to shift against us, people ask constant­ ly, "So, what are you doing now?" At THE AFRICA FUND we still be­ lieve that active U.S. citizen engage­ ment with southern Africa and with U.s. policy is critical for the survival of the new democracies. u.s. relations with Africa must not be left to the exclusive control of State Department experts, corporate interests and isola­ tionists who see no US. national in­ terest in Africa. Among the actions we have un­ When The Africa Fund brought Florence De Villiers, General Secretary of the South African Domestic dertaken this year: Workers Union, to tour the United States, the borough of Manhattan honored the occasion by proclaiming • We took up the fight to stop Con­ October 10 Florence De Villiers Day. Here De Villiers (left) joins Africa Fund Executive Director Jennifer Davis to receive the proclamation from Deputy Manhattan Borough President Fred Davies. gressional destruction of devel­ opment aid to Africa. Our sup­ porters phoned, faxed, and sent DOMESTICWORKERS' LEADER ONTOUR hundreds of letters to their Sena­ tors and Representatives. Cities In South Africa, more than one mil­ it assists about 50,000 domestics each as far apart as Newark, NJ and lion Black women live in tiny back year, through literacy programs, so­ Seattle, WA passed resolutions rooms in white homes.
    [Show full text]
  • Youth Violence Sources and Solutions in South Africa
    Youth violence Youth violence Africa and Solutions in South Sources Sources and Solutions in South Africa Youth violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa thoroughly and carefully reviews the Youth violence evidence for risk and protective factors that influence the likelihood of young people acting aggressively. Layers of understanding are built by looking at the problem from a multitude of perspectives, including developmental psychology and the influences Sources and Solutions in South Africa of race, class and gender. The book explores effective interventions in the contexts of young people’s lives – their homes, their schools, their leisure activities, with gangs, in the criminal justice system, in cities and neighbourhoods, the media, with sexual Edited by offenders – and the broader socioeconomic context. Thoughtful suggestions are made Catherine L. Ward, Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes for keeping an evidence-based perspective, and interventions from other contexts are (necessarily) adapted for developing world contexts such as South Africa. Youth violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa is a valuable source of information for practitioners, academics and anyone who has ever wondered about youth violence or wanted to do something about it. Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes Andrew Amelia van der Merwe, Edited by Catherine L. Ward, ‘It is … a national book of global relevance.’ Alexander Butchart, Prevention of Violence Coordinator, World Health Organization ‘On the one hand the book is indeed about youth violence
    [Show full text]
  • Layout for Pdf.Cdr
    Statistics South Africa Private Bag X44 Pretoria 0001 South Africa 170 Andries Street Pretoria 0002 User information service: (012) 310-8600 Fax: (012) 310-8500 Publications: (012) 310-8251 Fax: (012) 310-8619 Main switchboard: (012) 310-8911 Fax: (012) 322-3374 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.statssa.gov.za Pali Lehohla Statistician-General Statistics South Africa 2002 Published by Statistics South Africa, Private Bag X44, Pretoria 0001 © Statistics South Africa, 2002 Users may apply or process this data, provided Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is acknowledged as the original source of the data; that it is specified that the application an/or analysis is the result of the user's independent processing of the data; and that neither the basic data nor any reprocessed version or application thereof may be sold or offered for sale in any form whatsoever without prior permission from Stats SA. Author: Joyce Lestrade-Jefferis Stats SA Library Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) Data The South African labour market: Selected time-based social and international comparisons/ Statistics South Africa. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa, 2002 221 p. 1. Labour market – South Africa 2. Labour supply – Statistics I. Statistics South Africa II. Joyce Lestrade-Jefferis (LCSH 16) A complete set of Stats SA publications is available at Stats SA Library and the following libraries: National Library of South Africa, Pretoria Division National Library of South Africa, Cape Town Division Library of Parliament, Cape Town Bloemfontein Public Library
    [Show full text]
  • Lence Youth Violence Sources and Solutions in South Africa
    Youth violence Youth violence Africa and Solutions in South Sources Sources and Solutions in South Africa Youth violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa thoroughly and carefully reviews the Youth violence evidence for risk and protective factors that influence the likelihood of young people acting aggressively. Layers of understanding are built by looking at the problem from a multitude of perspectives, including developmental psychology and the influences Sources and Solutions in South Africa of race, class and gender. The book explores effective interventions in the contexts of young people’s lives – their homes, their schools, their leisure activities, with gangs, in the criminal justice system, in cities and neighbourhoods, the media, with sexual Edited by offenders – and the broader socioeconomic context. Thoughtful suggestions are made Catherine L. Ward, Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes for keeping an evidence-based perspective, and interventions from other contexts are (necessarily) adapted for developing world contexts such as South Africa. Youth violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa is a valuable source of information for practitioners, academics and anyone who has ever wondered about youth violence or wanted to do something about it. Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes Andrew Amelia van der Merwe, Edited by Catherine L. Ward, ‘It is … a national book of global relevance.’ Alexander Butchart, Prevention of Violence Coordinator, World Health Organization ‘On the one hand the book is indeed about youth violence
    [Show full text]
  • Household Energy, Indoor Air Pollution and Child Respiratory Health in South Africa
    Journal of Energy in Southern Africa 20(1): 4–13 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3051/2009/v20i1a3296 Household energy, indoor air pollution and child respiratory health in South Africa Brendon Barnes School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand; and Environment and Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council of South Africa Angela Mathee Environment and Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council of South Africa Elizabeth Thomas Centre for Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand; and Medical Research Council of South Africa Nigel Bruce Department of Public Health, University of Liverpool, England Abstract Introduction Indoor air pollution due to the indoor burning of Over half the global population (3 billion people) polluting fuels has been associated with Acute are reliant on solid biomass fuels such as wood, Lower Respiratory Infections (ALRI) amongst chil- coal, crop residues and animal dung for their dren less than five years old. This paper reviews evi- domestic energy requirements (The World Rsources dence of the association between household energy, Institute, 1998; Ezzati et al., 2004). When burned indoor air pollution and child ALRI in South Africa. indoors in open fires or rudimentary appliances, the Studies show evidence consistent with the interna- incomplete combustion of solid biomass fuels tional literature with the likelihood of ALRI between release high concentrations of toxic pollutants such 2 and 4 amongst children living in households using as particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), polluting fuels compared to households using elec- oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide (SO2) and tricity. Indoor air pollution is responsible for the volatile organic compounds into the living environ- deaths of up to 1 400 children annually.
    [Show full text]