Maria van der Merwe
Biographic Data
| ID | 6333740 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maria van der Merwe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maria |
| FAMILY NAME | van der Merwe |
| SIGNATURE | VAN DER MERWE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4174-2994 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Realising radical potential
Community power-building in rural PHC was multidimensional, non-linear, and deeply relational. Collective mindsets and capabilities for joint action and learning were built through a pragmatic, cooperative, adaptive process, creating spaces where people could produce and use evidence to make decisions. Impacts were seen in demand for implementation outside the study setting. We offer a practice framework to expand community power in PHC: (1) prio…
‘Voice needs teeth to have bite’! Expanding community-led multisectoral action-learning to address alcohol and drug abuse in rural South Africa
There is limited operational understanding of multisectoral action in health inclusive of communities as active change agents. The objectives were to: (a) develop community-led action-learning, advancing multisectoral responses for local public health problems; and (b) derive transferrable learning. Participants representing communities, government departments and non-governmental organisations in a rural district in South Africa co-designed the …
Lessons from community participation in primary health care and water resource governance in South Africa
Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa
BACKGROUND: Despite legislative and policy commitments to participatory water governance in South Africa, and some remarkable achievements, there has been limited progress to improve the water infrastructure servicing in marginalized rural communities. Around five million South Africans still do not have access to safe water. OBJECTIVE: This paper seeks to understand and advance processes to engage multisectoral stakeholders to respond to lack of…
Refining circumstances of mortality categories (Comcat)
BACKGROUND: Recognising that the causes of over half the world's deaths pass unrecorded, the World Health Organization (WHO) leads development of Verbal Autopsy (VA): a method to understand causes of death in otherwise unregistered populations. Recently, VA has been developed for use outside research environments, supporting countries and communities to recognise and act on their own health priorities. We developed the Circumstances of Mortality …
Understanding non-communicable diseases
Background: NCDs are non-infectious, long-term conditions that account for 40 million deaths per annum. 87% of premature NCD mortality occurs in low- and middle-income countries.Objective: The aims were:develop methods to provide integrated biosocial accounts of NCD mortality; and explore the practical utility of extended mortality data for the primary health care system.Methods: We drew on data from research programmes in the study area. Data we…
Building cooperative learning to address alcohol and other drug abuse in Mpumalanga, South Africa
There is significant willingness and capacity among community stakeholders to work in partnership with authorities to address priority health concerns. As a process, participation can help to raise and frame issues, which may help to better inform action and encourage shared responsibility. Broader understandings of participation require reference to, and ultimately transfer of power towards, those most directly affected, developing community voi…
Enhancing the value of mortality data for health systems
Half of the world's deaths and their causes pass unrecorded by routine registration systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Verbal autopsy (VA) collects information on medical signs, symptoms and circumstances from witnesses of a death that is used to assign likely medical causes. To further contextualise information on mortality, understanding underlying determinants, such as logistics, barriers to service utilisation and heal…
Rethinking collaboration
Following 50 years of apartheid, South Africa introduced visionary health policy committing to the right to health as part of a primary health care (PHC) approach. Implementation is seriously challenged, however, in an often-dysfunctional health system with scarce resources and a complex burden of avoidable mortality persists. Our aim was to develop a process generating evidence of practical relevance on implementation processes among people excl…
The whole is more than the sum of the parts
There is a gap in understanding of how national commitments to child nutrition are translated into sub-national implementation. This article is a mixed methods case study of a rural South African health district which achieved accelerated declines in morbidity and mortality from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in young children, following a district health system strengthening (HSS) initiative centred on real-time death reporting, analysis and re…
Initiating a participatory action research process in the Agincourt health and socio–demographic surveillance site
BACKGROUND: Despite progressive health policy, disease burdens in South Africa remain patterned by deeply entrenched social inequalities. Accounting for the relationships between context, health and risk can provide important information for equitable service delivery. The aims of the research were to initiate a participatory research process with communities in a low income setting and produce evidence of practical relevance. METHODS: We initiat…
Rethinking collaboration
Following 50 years of apartheid, South Africa introduced visionary health policy committing to the right to health as part of a primary health care (PHC) approach. Implementation is seriously challenged, however, in an often-dysfunctional health system with scarce resources and a complex burden of avoidable mortality persists. Our aim was to develop a process generating evidence of practical relevance on implementation processes among people excl…
Initiating a participatory action research process in the Agincourt health and socio–demographic surveillance site
BACKGROUND: Despite progressive health policy, disease burdens in South Africa remain patterned by deeply entrenched social inequalities. Accounting for the relationships between context, health and risk can provide important information for equitable service delivery. The aims of the research were to initiate a participatory research process with communities in a low income setting and produce evidence of practical relevance. METHODS: We initiat…
Enhancing the value of mortality data for health systems
Half of the world's deaths and their causes pass unrecorded by routine registration systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Verbal autopsy (VA) collects information on medical signs, symptoms and circumstances from witnesses of a death that is used to assign likely medical causes. To further contextualise information on mortality, understanding underlying determinants, such as logistics, barriers to service utilisation and heal…
Rethinking collaboration
Following 50 years of apartheid, South Africa introduced visionary health policy committing to the right to health as part of a primary health care (PHC) approach. Implementation is seriously challenged, however, in an often-dysfunctional health system with scarce resources and a complex burden of avoidable mortality persists. Our aim was to develop a process generating evidence of practical relevance on implementation processes among people excl…
The whole is more than the sum of the parts
There is a gap in understanding of how national commitments to child nutrition are translated into sub-national implementation. This article is a mixed methods case study of a rural South African health district which achieved accelerated declines in morbidity and mortality from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in young children, following a district health system strengthening (HSS) initiative centred on real-time death reporting, analysis and re…
Building cooperative learning to address alcohol and other drug abuse in Mpumalanga, South Africa
There is significant willingness and capacity among community stakeholders to work in partnership with authorities to address priority health concerns. As a process, participation can help to raise and frame issues, which may help to better inform action and encourage shared responsibility. Broader understandings of participation require reference to, and ultimately transfer of power towards, those most directly affected, developing community voi…
Developing stakeholder participation to address lack of safe water as a community health concern in a rural province in South Africa
BACKGROUND: Despite legislative and policy commitments to participatory water governance in South Africa, and some remarkable achievements, there has been limited progress to improve the water infrastructure servicing in marginalized rural communities. Around five million South Africans still do not have access to safe water. OBJECTIVE: This paper seeks to understand and advance processes to engage multisectoral stakeholders to respond to lack of…
Refining circumstances of mortality categories (Comcat)
BACKGROUND: Recognising that the causes of over half the world's deaths pass unrecorded, the World Health Organization (WHO) leads development of Verbal Autopsy (VA): a method to understand causes of death in otherwise unregistered populations. Recently, VA has been developed for use outside research environments, supporting countries and communities to recognise and act on their own health priorities. We developed the Circumstances of Mortality …
Understanding non-communicable diseases
Background: NCDs are non-infectious, long-term conditions that account for 40 million deaths per annum. 87% of premature NCD mortality occurs in low- and middle-income countries.Objective: The aims were:develop methods to provide integrated biosocial accounts of NCD mortality; and explore the practical utility of extended mortality data for the primary health care system.Methods: We drew on data from research programmes in the study area. Data we…
‘Voice needs teeth to have bite’! Expanding community-led multisectoral action-learning to address alcohol and drug abuse in rural South Africa
There is limited operational understanding of multisectoral action in health inclusive of communities as active change agents. The objectives were to: (a) develop community-led action-learning, advancing multisectoral responses for local public health problems; and (b) derive transferrable learning. Participants representing communities, government departments and non-governmental organisations in a rural district in South Africa co-designed the …
Lessons from community participation in primary health care and water resource governance in South Africa
Realising radical potential
Community power-building in rural PHC was multidimensional, non-linear, and deeply relational. Collective mindsets and capabilities for joint action and learning were built through a pragmatic, cooperative, adaptive process, creating spaces where people could produce and use evidence to make decisions. Impacts were seen in demand for implementation outside the study setting. We offer a practice framework to expand community power in PHC: (1) prio…
Medicine (9 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Nursing (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Environmental health (6 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (6 works) · Health Policy Implementation Science (5 works) · Public health (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Business (4 works)