Discovery Algoa FM Big Walk

With the vision to make people healthier through physical activity, Discovery and Algoa FM hosted the second Discovery Algoa FM Big Walk on 27 October 2012. This year the walk took place at the NMMU Sports Grounds, with participants choosing a distance of 5km or 10km. Highlighting the benefits of an active lifestyle, walkers were also able do their part to give back to the community with proceeds of the event going to CANSA.

Discovery Cape Times Big Walk

Know the oldest sporting event in SA that’s still going strong today? It’s the Discovery Cape Times Big Walk, it’s coming up on 11 November 2012 and you can be there. Discovery is a proud co-sponsor of the walk, established in 1903. Starting with only 61 walkers back in the day, there are now more than 37 000 making a day of it. With fun walks over 20km, 15km, 13km, 12km, 10km and 5km, the whole family can turn out. For the more competitive, there are timed walks over 80km, 50km, 30km and 25km. Vitality members, earn 3 000 points for a fun walk and 5 000 for a timed walk. So, get your entries in and come feel full of life at the Discovery Cape Times Big Walk.

Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge

December is soccer time. From 2 to 28 December, Discovery and the family of great freedom fighter Walter Sisulu are once again liberating future stars of South African soccer at the Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge. So far, the annual tournament has seen the rise of professional players such as Kaizer Chiefs striker Siphiwe Tshabalala, Free State Stars and Bafana Bafana Striker Edward Mngele and current Bafana Bafana and Ajax Amsterdam midfielder, Thulani Serero. Make a date for the soccer festival of the year. It’s happening at the Nike Training Centre in Soweto where this beautiful game is encouraging more people to take part in sport for healthier lives.

Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge

Every year swimmers, paddlers, runners, cyclists and walkers come together in Plettenberg Bay for the Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge. This year, the main fundraising event of the Sabrina Love Foundation happens on 28 and 29 December. Choose your challenge from a 6km ocean or one-mile river swim, 15km ocean paddle, 10km run, a 25km mountain bike ride or 3km beach walk. There’s even a triathlon, now in its second year. Starting healthy habits young, the Sabrina Kids of Steel challenge has a 100m swim and 1km run to make for a lot of fun on the beach. Challenge yourself at the Sabrina Love Ocean Challenge – the perfect mix of active fun and supporting the care of children living with special needs. www.sabrinalove.co.za

Connecting people, ideas and communities

Discovery’s social investments and partnerships form part of our passion to be a force for social good in society. By investing in community healthcare projects and the training of healthcare professionals across South Africa, we are helping to build a healthier nation.

Over the past few months, we have spent time with some of these community projects and the individuals who work tirelessly every day to make a difference in the lives of others. We learnt of their stories – their personal journeys and what drives them to keep making a difference every day. Connect, our book about our involvement with the community, brings together these positive and inspirational stories. Read the book here:

Connect Introduction
Connect Creating synergy through collaboration
Connect Boosting human resource capacity within the healthcare sector
Connect Improving infrastructure development for better service delivery
Connect Addressing national priorities
Connect Claiming a stake in South Africa's future discovery volunteers
Connect Support for primary healthcare

Discovery Foundation MGH Fellowship Award

Discovery is committed to strengthening and improving the country’s healthcare system to provide more equitable, affordable healthcare to more South Africans, and to be a force for social good. One of the ways through which we achieve this is through the Discovery Foundation which invests in the education and training of medical specialists to ensure a sustainable number of healthcare professionals in the healthcare system, and encourage further research in academic medicine. This year, Discovery Foundation added a fifth, new award category, the Discovery Foundation MGH Fellowship Award, a partnership between Discovery Foundation and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Global Health.

A two-year fellowship, the award gives recipients the opportunity to be exposed to and conduct cutting edge medical research in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, which has the largest hospital-based research programme in the US and offers world-leading programmes in hospital management and administration, as well as recognised PhD and post-PhD qualifications. The hospital is recognised as a global leader in clinical research. The inaugural award was awarded to Dr Neliswa Gogela, a senior registrar in hepatology at the University of Cape Town. Read more about Dr Gogela and the award in the brochure here.