Browsing by Subject "Pandemic"

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    Covid-19 impact on Johannesburg Stock Exchange for the duration of the pandemic period
    (2025) Dube, Siyabonga; Alhassan, Abdul Latif
    For a considerable time and for different reasons, the financial system shocks endured during rare events continue to pique investors' and policymakers' keen interest. Consequently, this study explores COVID-19's impact on the JSE. The pandemic caused significant shocks to financial systems and economies. Uncertainties emanating from investor fear in response to the pandemic outbreak affected portfolio investment decisions. Additionally, policymakers implemented ‘social distancing' and stringent measures to restrict the contagion of the health crisis, which had a disruptive impact on global value chains. To limit these adverse effects, policymakers — subject to budgetary constraints — implemented fiscal, monetary, and other stimulus packages to lessen the adverse impact on the real economy. Extensive studies have examined the reaction and recovery of financial and economic markets following pandemic-induced shocks. These studies draw on theories from behavioural finance, financial risk contagion, and the efficient market hypothesis to analyse market responses and stability. This dissertation builds on the existing literature by examining the health crisis' transmission to the financial markets in an emerging economy. The study employed new deaths and stringency measures implemented during the pandemic period as proxies for COVID-19 and assessed their impact on ALSI returns, the variable of interest, using a quantile regression estimation technique. The results indicate a level of collinearity and multicollinearity between ALSI returns and global financial market performance indicators. The correlation between ALSI returns, the S&P 500 and Implied Volatility is statistically significant at 0.716 and –0.600 respectively. This outcome indicates the deepened integration of South African financial markets with the globe. The flight to safe havens was not observed. Contrasting ALSI returns with macroeconomic factors represented by crude oil and the rand–dollar exchange rate, the relationships are statistically insignificant. The real economy disturbances do not appear to have been transmitted to the financial markets in the long term. Progress in vaccine development and coordinated global policy interventions may have limited the sustained adverse impact on the real economy. This study offers key recommendations for portfolio design, policymaker intervention timing, and the balance between economic stimulation and containment efforts during pandemics.
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    Open Access
    Key ethical issues encountered during COVID-19 research: a thematic analysis of perspectives from South African research ethics committees
    (2023-02-15) Burgess, Theresa; Rennie, Stuart; Moodley, Keymanthri
    Background The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant challenges to research ethics committees (RECs) in balancing urgency of review of COVID-19 research with careful consideration of risks and benefits. In the African context, RECs are further challenged by historical mistrust of research and potential impacts on COVID-19 related research participation, as well as the need to facilitate equitable access to effective treatments or vaccines for COVID-19. In South Africa, an absent National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) also left RECs without national guidance for a significant duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a qualitative descriptive study that explored the perspectives and experiences of RECs regarding the ethical challenges of COVID-19 research in South Africa. Methods We conducted in-depth interviews with 21 REC chairpersons or members from seven RECs at large academic health institutions across South Africa that were actively involved in the review of COVID-19 related research from January to April 2021. In-depth interviews were conducted remotely via Zoom. Interviews (60–125 min) were conducted in English using an in-depth interview guide, until data saturation was achieved. Audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim and field notes were converted into data documents. Line-by-line coding of transcripts was performed, and data were organised into themes and sub-themes. An inductive approach to thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Results Five main themes were identified, namely: rapidly evolving research ethics landscape, extreme vulnerability of research participants, unique challenges to informed consent, challenges to community engagement during COVID-19, and overlapping research ethics and public health equity issues. Sub-themes were identified for each main theme. Conclusions Numerous, significant ethical complexities and challenges were identified by South African REC members in the review of COVID-19 related research. While RECs are resilient and adaptable, reviewer and REC member fatigue were major concerns. The numerous ethical issues identified also highlight the need for research ethics teaching and training, especially in informed consent, as well as the urgent requirement for the development of national guidelines for research ethics during public health emergencies. Further, comparative analysis between different countries is needed to develop the discourse around African RECs and COVID-19 research ethics issues.
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    The impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic on maternal mortality in a South African Metropole (2020-21)
    (2025) Hunter, Mehreen Bhorat; Kalk, Emma; Hannan, Luke; Matjila, Mushi
    Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic there was a notable increase in maternal deaths across South Africa. Pre-pandemic, the Western Cape Province had made significant strides towards reducing maternal mortality. However, this progress was reversed in the pandemic period despite a relative protection of maternal care services. The biological impact of SARS-CoV-2 may not be the sole reason for the increase in mortality. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relative change in the maternal death rate for non-SARS-CoV-2-related deaths intra-pandemic versus pre-pandemic in 2019. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving all pregnant women with a pregnancy outcome enumerated in the Provincial Health Data Centre, in the Metro-West region of Cape Town from 1 January 2019 – 31 January 2022. Cause of in- facility maternal death and relationship to SARS-CoV-2 infection was determined by folder review. We used Interrupted Time Series (ITS) analysis to assess the impact of the pandemic period on non-SARS-CoV-2 causes of maternal mortality. Maternal characteristics reviewed included HIV status and the proportion of maternal deaths occurring in persons living with HIV were also explored. Results: Over 98 000 women were included with 68 deaths reviewed. The ITS model (p =0.01) revealed that the pandemic was associated with a step increase of 3.12 (-1.66;7.9) in maternal mortality rate for non-SARS-CoV-2 related deaths following the start of the pandemic. This impact was sustained with an attenuation in the maternal mortality rate reduction over time from -0.56 pre-pandemic to -0.12 intra-pandemic. Folder review of deaths revealed an increase in opportunistic infections as a cause of death relative to pre-pandemic. Conclusion: Whilst maternal healthcare services were largely protected from service disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a reversal of some of the progress made in reducing non-SARS-CoV-2 maternal deaths in prior years. An increase in opportunistic infections and an attenuation of the decline in maternal death rate suggest that optimising maternal health requires the well-functioning of the entire healthcare ecosystem. The indirect impact of health threats, and our responses thereto, need to be strongly considered in future management strategies