The Eastern Cape Department of Education in collaboration with Eastern Cape Department of Health, Social Development, Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as Love Life and Small Project Foundation (SPF) are all moving forward towards a common goal, which is to provide primary school health care to every single child in the province of the Eastern Cape, backed fully by national.
This financial year 11 Education districts will be prioritized based on their poor performance, meaning that their matric pass rate was below 60% last year. Grades 1, 4, 8 and 10 will be targeted, where:
- Grade 1 learners will get all the necessary vaccinations that have been missed out on, and they will be de-wormed every 6 months.
- Grade 4 has been targeted because they are in the age group just before puberty and menstrual cycles, where the opportunity to educate learners about these changes, will present themselves.
- Grade 8 has been targeted because this is the age group where learners have moved from a primary to a secondary school, and are now vulnerable to older learners, this age group will be taught about topical issues in the learning area Life Orientation e.g. sexual intercourse, rape, teenage pregnancy and circumcision.
- Grade 10 has been targeted to be educated about HIV and AIDS, the usage of condoms, and contraception.
Above these topics, general screening will still be done e.g. nutritional assessment, eyes, vision, oral health, ears, TB screening, minor ailments, anaemia screening and sexual and reproductive health counselling.
Every year the life expectancy is decreasing rapidly according to statistics presented by research done yearly, and Dr Margaret Ntlangula from the Provincial Department of Health believes “if this program succeeds, we would have put a clear contribution toward a longer and healthier life.”
