In 2024, UCT delivered many community outreach and student-volunteer programmes focused on health and well-being in the broader community. This included primary care, maternal and child health, health promotion, mental-health/harm-reduction, LGBTQIA+ health, legal/rights support for refugees, and community health education.

• UCT’s Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO) ran free, student-led primary-health clinics, maternal & child health clinics, health promotion events (Zumba/fitness, women’s health events), and community health education across Cape Town townships and informal settlements in 2024. These offer regular clinical services (general practice, paediatrics, maternal care), health promotion (nutrition, hygiene, sexual health) and community fitness events. Regular, structured clinical services and health promotion delivered by UCT students (supervised by clinicians) are direct service delivery and community capacity building. These clinics address hygiene, maternal and child health, nutrition, chronic disease screening, sexual/reproductive health and health education.
• UCT's Faculty of Health Sciences hosted a two-day LGBTQIA+ Health and Advocacy Symposium in November 2024 in partnership with Desmond Tutu Health Foundation and local NGOs (Triangle Project, GenderDynamiX, and others), focusing on inclusive health provision and advocacy — a direct outreach/knowledge-translation activity for vulnerable groups. The primary aim of the symposium was to embed on demand, state funded ‘gender-affirming care’ (GAC) for those who identify as transgender and non-binary into the South African health care system, and to have ‘GAC’ taught as part of the medical curriculum.
• Khayelitsha Cervical Cancer Screening Program (KCCP) for screening & screen-and-treat implementation. UCT clinical teams from the Faculty of Health Sciences have been working with community clinics in Khayelitsha to implement HPV-based, point-of-care screen-and-treat approaches and scale cervical-cancer prevention services. The project includes on-site screening, immediate treatment where needed, implementation research and capacity building with local health facilities.
• Women’s health was highlighted on UCT Radio and social media platforms throughout August 2024. UCT Radio is a student-run campus radio station for the University of Cape Town that broadcasts to a youthful audience in Cape Town and globally via its online stream. The women’s health sessions in 2024 included:
  • 4 August:
    Women’s health issues (cancers affecting women, including PrEP, cervical, breast screening; HIV and STI prevention). Interviewee: Dr Kathy van der Westhuizen, medical officer: medical and outreach in Student Wellness Services (SWS)
  • 7 August:
    Sexual assault’s psychological effects. Interviewee: Yolanda Hanning, psychologist in Student Wellness Services (SWS)
  • 7 August:
    Sexual assault survivor support. Interviewee: Yumna Seedat, survivor and complainant support in the Office for Inclusivity and Change
  • 21 August
    Focus on African Traditional Medicine Week by Dr Christie van Zyl, special project: indigenous health in Student Wellness Services