Between a rock and a hard place: Ethics, nurses' safety, and the right to protest during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIM: In this paper, we critically discuss the ethics of nurses' choice to strike during the COVID-19 pandemic, considering legal and ethical arguments, overlaying the Ubuntu philosophy, an African ethic. BACKGROUND: The recent unprecedented coronavirus disease pandemic and the increased reports on the absence of personal protective equipment in South Africa places many health workers' lives at risk. Nurses spend most of their time with patients, which exposes them to fatal risks as they work in unsafe environments. RESEARCH METHODS: Exploratory literature review was conducted using Pubmed, CINAHL, Google Scholar and Science Direct) and law cases repository. FINDINGS: Nurses thus may be justified in striking to protect their safety. State healthcare entities are obliged to ensure safety and protect the health of professionals during the pandemic. According to their Code of Practice and Pledge of Service, they are ethically obliged to put patients first, and as a result, they are legally barred from engaging in strike action. CONCLUSION: We conclude that there may be constitutional human rights arguments to support strike action. We also find that ethical principles alone do not provide clear direction to guide nurses in making justified and ethical decisions regarding service provision in an environment threatening to compromise their safety.

Experiences and challenges of an interprofessional community of practice in HIV and AIDS in Tshwane district, South Africa.

Collaboration amongst stakeholders remains a central tenet to achieving goals in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of HIV and AIDS prevention and care strategies. This paper describes the experiences of members of a health care team who joined efforts to collaborate and form a community of practice (CoP) in HIV and AIDS. Qualitative, exploratory case study methods were used. Twenty-six participants were interviewed. Transcripts from the interviews were subjected to the thematic framework of data analysis. Based on the analysis, three themes emerged as impacting on collaboration and these were: the understanding and expectations of being a CoP member; professionalism and ethics within the CoP and collaboration in HIV and AIDS care. The key findings were that the understanding and expectations from the CoP varied. Ethical principles including respect, trust and confidentiality were identified as key tenets of collaboration and were expressed in various ways. The expectations of being a CoP member, the ethical principles within the CoP all impacted in differing ways on how they collaborated. The implication of this study suggests that consultation during inception and throughout the process, clarification of roles, transparency and respect are cardinal points in professional relationships.

COP27 Climate Change Conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world / Conferencia sobre cambio climático COP27: se necesita una acción urgente para África y el mundo

Wealthy nations must step up support for Africa and vulnerable countries in addressing past, present and future impacts of climate change The 2022 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a dark picture of the future of life on earth, characterised by ecosystem collapse, species extinction, and climate hazards such as heatwaves and floods (1). These are all linked to physical and mental health problems, with direct and indirect consequences of increased morbidity and mortality. To avoid these catastrophic health effects across all regions of the globe, there is broad agreement­as 231 health journals argued together in 2021­that the rise in global temperature must be limited to less than 1.5oC compared with pre-industrial levels.

El informe de 2022 del Panel Intergubernamental sobre el Cambio Climático (IPCC por sus siglas en inglés) pinta un panorama sombrío del futuro de la vida en la tierra, caracterizado por el colapso de los ecosistemas, la extinción de (1)especies y los peligros climáticos como olas de calor e inundaciones. Todos ellos están vinculados a problemas de salud física y mental, con consecuencias directas e indirectas de aumento de la morbilidad y mortalidad. Para evitar estos efectos catastrócos para la salud en todas las regiones del mundo, existe un amplio acuerdo, como argumentaron 231 revistas de salud juntas en 2021, en que el aumento de la temperatura global debe limitarse a menos de 1,5 °C en comparación con los niveles preindustriales