PUBLISHED WORK

Health Systems & Policy Research

Significance of informal (on-the-job) learning and leadership development in health systems: lessons from a district finance team in South Africa

Choonara, S., Goudge, J., Nxumalo, N., Eyles, J. Read more:https://gh.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000138

National Health Insurance: South Africa’s most progressive reform to date

Choonara, S. Eyles. J. Read more:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299469960_National_Health_Insurance_South_Africa’s_most_progressive_reform_to_date

Financing Universal Health Care in SA

Choonara, S., Eyles, J. Read more:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292972622_Financing_universal_health_care_in_South_Africa

Factors influencing the usage of different types of malaria prevention methods during pregnancy in Kenya

Choonara S., Odimegwu CO, Elwange BC Read more:https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ahs/article/view/117515

Value of ethnography: Understanding health system financial management

Choonara, S., Eyles, J., & Morrison, R. Read more:https://methods.sagepub.com/case/value-of-ethnography-understanding-health-system-financial-management

Inside-outside View: Gender, youth and the dilemma of serving in the African Union

Shakira Choonara Read more: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10130950.2020.1850006

Addressing Noncommunicable Diseases in Adolescence

The Economist Intelligence Unit Read morehttps://youthncds.economist.com/Addressing-non-communicable-diseases-in-adolescence.pdf

Engaging young people for health and sustainable development

World Health Organization Read more:https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/274368/9789241514576-eng.pdf?ua=1

The Future of Public Health: Engaging Students and Young Professionals

World Federation of Public Health Associations Read more:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057%2Fs41271-018-0143-y

A Better World: Hope from Africa

An Obama Africa Leaders Initiative with poems written by young leaders across the continent Read more:https://issuu.com/theartpress/docs/a_better_world_-_ebook

World Health Organization at the European Development Days 2015

World Health Organization Read more:https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/282138/WHO-at-European-Development-Days-2015.pdf?ua=1

Urgency for transformation: youth engagement in global health

Bulc B, Al-Wahdani B, Bustreo F, Choonara S, Demaio A, Jácome DI, Lal A, Odede JP, Orlic P, Ramchandani R, Walji S. Read more:https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2214109X19302219

Sustainable Development girls: mapping youth advocacy and action to achieve sexual and reproductive health rights in Africa

Choonara S. Banda R. Chitimira R. Ditsele G. Hwengwere M. Magwenzi T. Msekele S.Phiri C. Simelane ZN. Masikati I. Read more:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.2018.1427812

Getting Started: Surviving and Succeeding During the Pre-Doctoral Stage Getting Started: Surviving and Succeeding During the Pre-Doctoral Stage

Choonara S. Edited by; Frick L., Motshoane, P., McMaster, C., Murphy, C. Read more:https://www.africansunmedia.co.za/Sun-e-Shop/Product-Details/tabid/78/ProductID/468/Default.aspx

Changing the narrative: responsibility for youth engagement is a two-way street

Lal A. Bulc B. Bewa MJ. Cassim MY. Choonara S. Efendioglu E. Germann S. Hafeez H. Iversen K. Nishtar S. O’Leary C. Orlic P. Ralston J. Ramchandani R. Walji S. 2019 Read more:https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(19)30247-0/fulltext

SRHR Africa Trust (formerly the Southern African AIDS Trust)

While employed at the SRHR Africa Trust (SAT), Dr Choonara in her capacity as Regional Adolescent Health Manager was part of a team leading the successful implementation of HER VOICE FUND. A pilot project by the Global Fund to include adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in HIV policies across thirteen sub-Saharan African Countries. Together with the stellar team she also launched the Her Voice Ambassador Programme.

Dr Choonara’s entry point and developing a passion for youth was through being offered the platform at SAT to spearhead youth leadership and development programmes, namely the Regional Youth Hubs (#SAT4YOUTH) across Eastern and Southern Africa. Additionally, she was responsible for developing leadership programmes in sexual and reproductive health, titled “Creating a YouthQuake in SRHR.”

See more:

Her Voice Fund

Other networks

Dr Choonara contributed to multiple networks e.g. contributing to NCD Child’s recommendations for the high-level United Nations (UN) meeting on noncommunicable diseases, grassroots/ community advocacy around non-racism with the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and communication support for the Emerging Voices for Global Health programme.

Post being a European Union Young Leader for Health in 2015, Dr Choonara was invited to serve as one of the founding Editors of the Young Leaders for Development Blog aimed at increasing youth voices around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Below are some of the highlights of Dr Choonara’s renowned public speaking moments;

In 2018, at the Africa Conference on Sexual Health Rights only senior panelists were given chairs. Dr Choonara challenged the status quo by picking up her chair as a young person and joining the panel with the United Nations (UN) Youth Envoy

In 2017, Dr Choonara was invited as a high-level panelist to participate in the Canadian Conference in Global Health. She made history by blindfolding a panel to demonstrate the inaccessibility of medications for those who are visually impaired

At the 71^st World Health Assembly Dr Choonara was invited to speak during a Youth Town hall alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) Advisor on Gender and Youth (Diah Saminarsih) where she subtly pushed and encouraged youth creativity in the room “How can us as youth, be hip and bold at the same time.”

At the Public Health Association of South Africa Conference 2018 (#PHASA2018), Dr Choonara illustrated a simple strategy for youth inclusion by inviting a youth participant to sit alongside her and contribute to the discussion, demonstrating the importance of bringing all voices into the room and making way for others

Dr Choonara is an established blogger, vlogger and has vast experience engaging with the media. When appointed to the African Union (AU) a major commitment made was to being the continental body closer to home, closer to young people.

Have a listen to radio interviews on Talk Radio 702 & SAfm Sunrise:

“Being in healthcare and outside of the political sphere, I too struggle with the huge volumes of policy documents, political commitments and charters. In line with the Instagram post best of nine #2019 as I learn and immerse myself in the AU, I draw out nine-key points for a quick five minute read for youth!

#YouthAlert aims to have these documents translated in a youth-friendly manner and youth having technical knowledge readily at their fingertips!

It’s critical for us to push these documents from being dead and buried, being empty promises to living commitments we need to strive for and hold stakeholders accountable”.

Terms and Conditions

Website Standard Privacy and Cookies Policy

Where we refer to “process”, it means how we collect, use, store, make available, destroy, update, disclose, or otherwise deal with your personal information. As a general rule we will only process your personal information if this is required to deliver or offer a service or product.

We may combine your personal information and use the combined personal information for any of the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy.

In this document any reference to “we” or “us” or “our” includes our company and any of its subsidiaries.

If you use our services, goods, products and service channels you agree that we may process your personal information as explained under this Privacy Policy. Sometimes you may provide us with consent to process your personal information. Read it carefully because it may limit your rights.

As a global organisation this Privacy Policy will apply to the processing of personal information by any member of our company globally. If we process personal information for another party under a contract or a mandate, the other party’s privacy policy will apply to the processing.

We can change this Privacy Policy from time to time if the law or its business practices requires it.

The version of the Privacy Policy displayed on our website will apply to your interactions with us.

What is personal information?

Personal information refers to any information that identifies you or specifically relates to you. Personal information includes, but is not limited to, the following information about you:

your national origin;
your age;
your language; birth; education;
your marital status (like married, single, divorced);
your financial history (like your income, Third party payments made on your behalf and the like);
your identifying number (like an employee number, identity number or passport number);
your e-mail address; physical address (like residential address, work address or your physical location); telephone number;
your biometric information (like fingerprints, your signature or voice);
your race; gender; sex; pregnancy; ethnic origin; social origin; colour; sexual orientation;
your physical health; mental health; well-being; disability; religion; belief; conscience; culture;
your medical history; criminal history; employment history;
your personal views, preferences and opinions;
your confidential correspondence; and / or
another’s views or opinions about you and your name also constitute your personal information;
personal information includes special personal information, as explained below.

When will we process your personal information?

We will only process your personal information for lawful purposes relating to our business if the following applies:

if you have consented thereto;
if a person legally authorised by you, the law or a court, has consented thereto;
if it is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract we have with you;
if the law requires or permits it;
if it is required to protect or pursue your, our or a third party’s legitimate interest;

What is special personal information?

Special personal information is personal information about the following:

your race (like where a company submits reports to the Department of Labour where the statistical information must be recorded);
your ethnic origin;
your health (like where you apply for an insurance policy);
your biometric information (like to verify your identity); and / or your criminal behaviour and alleged commission of an offence

When will we process your special personal information?

We may process your special personal information in the following circumstances:

if you have consented to the processing;
if the information is being used for any human resource or payroll requirement;
if the processing is needed to create, use or protect a right or obligation in law;
if the processing is for statistical or research purposes and all legal conditions are met;
if the special personal information was made public by you;
if the processing is required by law;
if racial information is processed, and the processing is required to identify you; and / or if health information is processed, and the processing is to determine your insurance risk, or to comply with an insurance policy or to enforce an insurance right or obligation.

When and from where we obtain personal information about you

we collect personal information from the payroll or HR departments of our clients when they capture financial and non-financial information;
we collect personal information from 3rd parties that are directly integrated with our software platform;
we collect information about you based on your use of our products, services or service channels;
we collect information about you based on how you engage or interact with us such as via our support desk, emails, letters, telephone calls and surveys.

If the law requires us to do so, we will ask for your consent before collecting personal information about you from third parties.

The third parties from whom we may collect your personal information include, but are not limited to, the following:

partners of our company for any of the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy;
your spouse, dependents, partners, employer, and other similar sources;
people you have authorised to share your personal information, like a person that makes a travel booking on your behalf or a medical practitioner for insurance purposes;
attorneys, tracing agents, debt collectors and other persons that assist with the enforcement of agreements;
payment processing services providers, merchants, banks and other persons that assist with the processing of your payment instructions, like EFT transaction partners
insurers, brokers, other financial institutions or other organisations that assist with insurance and assurance underwriting, the providing of insurance and assurance policies and products, the assessment of insurance and assurance claims and other related purposes;
law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies and other persons tasked with the prevention and prosecution of crime;
regulatory authorities, industry ombudsman, governmental departments, local and international tax authorities;
trustees, Executors or Curators appointed by a court of law;
our service providers, agents and sub-contractors like couriers and other persons we use to offer and provide products and services to you;
courts of law or tribunals;
participating partners, whether retail or online, in our customer loyalty reward programmes;
our joint venture partners; and / or

Reasons we need to process your personal information

We will process your personal information for the following reasons:
- to provide you with products, goods and services;
- to market our products, goods and services to you;
- to respond to your enquiries and complaints;
- to comply with legislative, regulatory, risk and compliance requirements (including directives, sanctions and rules), voluntary and involuntary codes of conduct and industry agreements or to fulfil reporting requirements and information requests;
- to conduct market and behavioural research, including scoring and analysis to determine if you qualify for products and services or to determine your credit or insurance risk;
- to develop, test and improve products and services for you;
- for historical, statistical and research purposes, like market segmentation;
- to process payment instruments;
- to create, manufacture and print payment issues (like a payslip)
- to enable us to deliver goods, documents or notices to you;
- for security, identity verification and to check the accuracy of your personal information;
- to communicate with you and carry out your instructions and requests;
- for customer satisfaction surveys, promotional offerings.
- insurance and assurance underwriting and administration;
- to process or consider or assess insurance or assurance claims;
- to provide insurance and assurance policies and products and related services;
- to enable you to take part in customer loyalty reward programmes, to determine your qualification for participation, earning of reward points, determining your rewards level, monitoring your buying behaviour with our rewards partners to allocate the correct points or inform you of appropriate products, goods and services you may be interested in or to inform our reward partners about your purchasing behaviour;
- to enable you to take part in and make use of value added products and services;
- to assess our lending and insurance risks; and / or
- for any other related purposes.

How we use your personal information for marketing

we will use your personal information to market financial, insurance, investments and other related banking products and services to you;
we may also market non-banking or non-financial products, goods or services to you.
We will do this in person, by post, telephone, or electronic channels such as SMS, email and fax;
if you are not our customer, or in any other instances where the law requires, we will only market to you by electronic communications with your consent.
on all cases you can request us to stop sending marketing communications to you at any time.

When, how and with whom we share your personal information

In general we will only share your personal information if any one or more of the following apply:

if you have consented to this;
if it is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract we have with you;
if the law requires it; and / or;
if it’s necessary to protect or pursue your, our or a third party’s legitimate interests.

Under what circumstances will we transfer your information to other countries?

We will only transfer your personal information to third parties in another country in any one or more of the following circumstances:

where your personal information will be adequately protected under the other country’s laws or an agreement with the third party recipient;
where the transfer is necessary to enter into or perform under a contract with you, or a contract with a third party that is in your interest;
where you have consented to the transfer; and / or
where it is not reasonably practical to obtain your consent, the transfer is in your interest.

This transfer will happen within the requirements and safeguards of the law. Where possible, the party processing your personal information in the other country will agree to apply the same level of protection as available by law in your country or if the other country’s laws provide better protection the other country’s laws would be agreed to and applied.

An example of us transferring your personal information to another country is where foreign payments take place if you purchase goods or services in a foreign country.

TAKE NOTE: We are a global organisation your personal information may be shared within all our company entities in other countries and processed in those countries.

Your duties and rights about the personal information we have about you

You must provide proof of identity when enforcing the rights below.

You must inform us when your personal information changes.

Please refer to our Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 Manual (PAIA Manual) for further information on how you can give effect to the rights listed below. Download the PAIA Manual.

You have the right to request access to the personal information we have about you by contacting us. This includes requesting:

confirmation that we hold your personal information;
a copy or description of the record containing your personal information; and
the identity or categories of third parties who have had access to your personal information.

We will attend to requests for access to personal information within a reasonable time. You may be required to pay a reasonable fee to receive copies or descriptions of records, or information about third parties. We will inform you of the fee before attending to your request.

Please note that the law may limit your right to access information.

You have the right to request us to correct or delete the personal information we have about you if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, obtained unlawfully or we are no longer authorised to keep it. You must inform us of your request in writing. Please refer to our PAIA Manual for further information in this regard, like the process you should follow to give effect to this right. It may take up to 15 business days for the change to reflect on our systems. We may request documents from you to verify the change in personal information.

A specific agreement that you have entered into with us may determine how you must change your personal information provided at the time when you entered into the specific agreement. Please adhere to these requirements. If the law requires us to keep the personal information, it will not be deleted upon your request. The deletion of certain personal information may lead to the termination of your business relationship with us.

You may object on reasonable grounds to the processing of your personal information.

We will not be able to give effect to your objection if the processing of your personal information was and is permitted by law; you have provided consent to the processing and our processing done according to your consent or the processing is necessary to conclude or perform under a contract with you.

Where you have provided your consent for the processing of your personal information, you may withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent we will explain the consequences to you. We may proceed to process your personal information even if you have withdrawn your consent if the law permits or requires it. It may take up to 15 business days for the change to reflect on our systems, during this time we may still process your personal information. You must inform us of any objection in writing. Please refer to our PAIA Manual for further information in this regard, like the process you should follow to give effect to this right.

You have a right to file a complaint with us or any Regulator with jurisdiction about an alleged contravention of the protection of your personal information by us. We will address your complaint as far as possible.

How we secure your personal information

we will take appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect your personal information according to industry best practices. Our security measures (including physical, technological and procedural safeguards) will be appropriate and reasonable. This includes the following:
keeping our systems secure (like monitoring access and usage);
storing our records securely;
controlling the access to our buildings, systems and/or records; and
safely destroying or deleting records;
ensure compliance with international ISO security standards;
you can also protect your personal information. Please visit the website of the relevant business you have established a business relationship with for more information.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We will keep your personal information for as long as:

the law requires us to keep it;
a contract between you and us requires us to keep it;
you have consented for us keeping it;
we are required to keep it to achieve the purposes listed in this Privacy Policy;
we require it for statistical or research purposes;
a code of conduct requires us to keep it; and / or
we require it for our lawful business purposes.

Take note: We may keep your personal information even if you no longer have a relationship with us, for the historical data that may be required by your employer or employee.

Our cookie policy

A cookie is a small piece of data sent from our websites or applications to your computer or device hard drive or Internet browser where it is saved. The cookie contains information to personalise your experience on our websites or applications and may improve your experience on the websites or applications. The cookie will also identify your device, like the computer or smart phone.

By using our websites or applications you agree that cookies may be forwarded from the relevant website or application to your computer or device. The cookie will enable us to know that you have visited the website or application before and will identify you. We may also use the cookie to prevent fraud and for analytics.