At the Swiss Business Hub Southern Africa (SBHSA) we grasp and make use of regional dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa connecting the dots, creating platforms and networks for enhanced synergies between different stakeholders. Success stories like the merger of Instasense with EPS Engineering or the “proudly” South African Medtech innovation Lodox’ engagement in Switzerland and successful events with A. Vogel or Lombard Odier are the fruits of our continuous efforts for mutually beneficial partnerships.

In the spirit of Ubuntu – I am because we are. Kind regards, Stéphanie Labité

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A fellowship announced last week will offer one physician a year’s worth of experience working with forensic pathologists at the Arkansas state Crime Laboratory and coroners across the state, increasing the fellow’s knowledge of the field and hopefully keeping that expertise in the Natural State, officials said.

Starting July 1, 2024, the person accepted to the fellowship offered by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Crime Lab will get the chance to conduct a high volume of autopsies, employing the variety of advanced forensic tools available to the lab and working with coroners in all 75 counties, Dr. Theodore Brown, Arkansas’ chief medical examiner and an associate professor of pathology at UAMS, said in a news release.

Brown is the director of the fellowship program, which is open to physicians who have completed a residency program in anatomic or anatomic and clinical pathology.

What the fellow will come to learn through the program, Brown said in an interview Thursday, is that forensic pathologists’ work in the Crime Lab is not just about determining how Arkansans have died, but why they have died. The answer to the second question enables them to work with other doctors, social workers and public health officials to help prevent future deaths.

More Information: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jul/17/uams-state-crime-lab-offering-1-year-fellowship/

Bullets are the main cause of unnatural deaths of non-South Africans in Hillbrow and south Johannesburg.

A study by a department of forensic medicine and pathology student at the University of the Witwatersrand found an overwhelming number of unnatural deaths in foreigners was caused by gunshot wounds.

Jennifer Tempest, 22, presented her honours research findings at the SA Academy of Forensic Sciences Young Scientist Forum on Thursday.

The dead came from 41 countries, with almost half from Zimbabwe.

The most common cause of death was murder and the majority of the victims male.

She believes this is because men are more likely to participate in risk-taking behaviour such as drunk driving, firearm- and taxi-related violence and crime.

Only 20% of the dead were not black.

An overwhelming majority were killed with firearms, followed by “unknown” deaths and those who “died under anaesthetic”.

Other causes, from most to least, were sharp-force injury, motor accident, suicide, burns, poisoning, blunt-force injury, dead on arrival and assault.

“I want this to shed light on exactly what is killing a very alienated population in SA and exactly how dangerous it is to be non-South African. We have an insane history of xenophobia in this country.

“The findings are that the migrant population in SA is not nearly as big as people think. And contrary to popular belief, Hillbrow is not full of Nigerians. Most [of its foreigners] are Zimbabwean].

“Another finding is that the mortality rate of homicide and suicide in this population is higher than in the SA population, which is a significant cause for concern because this group has a higher risk of interpersonal violence, as well as mental health issues.”

Tempest’s presentation was followed by that of Boikano Morele.

His was an overview of cases X-rayed using the mortuary’s Lodox StatsCan, an SA invention.

The device is a leading tool worldwide for X-ray imaging for trauma. Mortuaries use it to discover bullets or other anomalies in bodies and skeletons when seeking to establish cause of death.

Morele studied unnatural deaths in those X-rayed at the same FPS between 2016 and 2019. There were 2,026 and most were black males with an average age of 37.

As with Tempest’s study, a large number of unnatural deaths were caused by gunshots.

At the recent discussion forum hosted by the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF), the civil society science, engineering and technology (SET) stakeholders’ body focused on the creative economy, science and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

The forum brought together stakeholders from the SET community to consider cross-cutting questions on creativity, science, technology and the economy.

The goal was to examine the interface between the creative industries and science and technology, to discover the overlaps between them, and to unpack how these can be translated into innovation and the growth of the economy.

Professor Bruton has just written a book on innovations in Africa called Harambee, which is now available from bookshops. He shines much-needed and inspiring light on skills, creativity and the spirit of African ingenuity.

Bruton’s insights were inspirational for several reasons; he highlighted the fact that South Africans are responsible for more than 700 inventions, such as the first machine used to drill tunnels for the first underground railways in England, for Oil of Olay, and for the Lodox low-dose X-ray machine, among many others.

He also eloquently pointed out that the potential of the 4IR cannot lie in semantics, but requires that there’s a major change of mindset so that South Africa can take advantage of it. This is where civil society can truly make a powerful impact on the creative economy, by pioneering new trends to democratise technology.

Cutting-edge technology could eliminate the need for traditional autopsies, reports CBS Denver. Faith leaders and city officials gathered in the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner Wednesday to check out a device the chief medical examiner called a “game changer.”

The Lodox imaging system uses low radiation doses to capture and produce high quality full-body X-rays. In some cases, the images could replace many steps in autopsies, which can be invasive and include the removal of organs.

Many cultures and religions frown on such procedures, such as Jews, Muslims and Native Americans.

The Lodox helps coroners better meet the needs of such faith-based groups without compromising the OME’s standards.

“It’s state-of-the-art technology,” Dr. James Caruso said. “It changes what is a 30 minute or more procedure to a matter of a minute or two.

“The Lodox will demonstrate trauma, foreign objects in the body, like bullets, and it gives doctors a piece of information to help them decide [if] an autopsy doesn’t need to be done and we don’t have to put the family through more stress.”

Among the faith leaders attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Doug Good Feather of Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Imam Mohamed Kolila with the Downtown Denver Islamic Center, and Rabbi Tzvi Steinberg of the Coalition of Synagogue Rabbis of Denver.

“When the body is cut or there’s loss of blood from the body,” Steinberg explained to CBS Denver, “we universally believe, we universally feel, that this is a desecration. Dr. Caruso has been an advocate for these types of sensitivities toward the faith-based communities, and [Lodox] is a wonderful advancement.”

Caruso said his office completes about 700 autopsies every year, but he notes that not every death in Denver requires an autopsy. He explained autopsies are called for with unexpected deaths, those caused by overdoses, or suspicious deaths perhaps involving violence or other trauma.

“To the extent possible,” he said, “we will not do an autopsy if we can avoid it.”

Even though Lodox can’t be used instead of a traditional autopsy in every case, Caruso said the state-of-the-art system will help his office avoid increasing stress for a family already grieving the loss of a loved one.

“This, for us, is very significant,” Rabbi Steinberg said. “It gives us a great deal of comfort.”

The Lodox system has been used in Denver since October.