Honourable MEC, Dr Meshack Radebe
Local councilors and traditional leaders here present
Ladies and gentlemen of the media
As part of this year’s commemoration of the World AIDS Day, we are pleased to be here today to launch the maternal orphans surveillance study. We chose this day because we want to raise national consciousness about the negative impact of mainly HIV and AIDS related adult mortality rates on children.
Previously, there was a lack of reliable data on the number of orphans and vulnerable children in which impacted negatively on our abilities to provide proper care for these children. It is in this context that the Department of Social Department in partnership with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) undertook a study to identify and compile reliable estimates of the number of orphans. We believe that data from this research project will assist the Department of Social Development and the rest of government to implement appropriate interventions to address the plight of orphans and vulnerable children.
This study uses data consisting of birth and death files from the Population Register administered by the Department of Home Affairs. I must point out that data from this study excludes paternal orphans - meaning children who were without a living biological father, as the fathers’ details are optional in birth registration processes. Yet even in the light of this data limitation, it is important to examine the extent to which maternal deaths affect the children’s well-being.
The study indicates that by the end of 2009, there were approximately 905, 453 maternal orphans in South Africa, which accounts for about 4 percent of all children living in South Africa. Furthermore, the results indicate that a significant proportion of the 905,453 maternal orphans are in the Kwazulu-Natal province.
According to the study, KwaZulu-Natal has an estimated 226,759 orphans, which is 26% of the total, followed by Gauteng and Eastern Cape where the numbers of orphans areestimated to be 147,136 (17%) and 142,444 (16%) respectively. The Northern Cape province has the lowest number of maternal orphans at 24,769 (3%) followed by the Western Cape at 38,537 (4%).
In this district (Umzinyathi) alone, the study shows that there are approximately 13, 558 maternal orphans. It is for this reason that we are launching the study here today because we want to mobilise communities to establish circles of support for this group of children.
Ladies and gentlemen, all children need and deserve to have families that love, protect and nurture them. This is sadly not always the case, as many children are rendered vulnerable when their parents and other care-givers die under the burden of disease, especially AIDS related sicknesses, accidents or violence. When children are left to fend for themselves, clearly, it is our responsibility as government and communities and various sectors to provide assistance that will nurture them so that they live full, healthy and happy lives.
Government and community support for orphaned children should provide adequate safety nets, and offer them protection and love. It is the duty of government, working with all sectors of our society to provide the basic services required by children in a manner that is respectful of their rights as enshrined in the constitution and provided for in the Children’s Act.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me a moment to outline some of our interventions directed at mitigating vulnerability among children. The Department of Social Development, through the National Action Committee for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS (NACCA), has put in place a Policy Framework and a National Action Plan on orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. This policy framework guides our programmatic interventions.
Most services to orphans and vulnerable children are rendered through the Home-Community Based Care programme. The programme enables children and their families to have access to services nearest to their homes. I was reliably informed that the provincial department is funding some community based organisations in this district to implement this programme.
Services rendered under this programme to mention a few include:
- Early identification of vulnerable children and their families
- Referral to appropriate services such as alternative care
- Training of community caregivers as part of the Social Sector Plan on Expanded Public Works Programme
- Psychosocial support and material assistance
- Provision of care and support to child-headed households and older persons as primary caregivers
- Facilitation of support groups and anti-retroviral drug adherence support.
Through our partnership with UNICEF, we have established Child Care Forums countrywide, primarily to identify and assist orphans and vulnerable children in communities. The idea is that each community should have a Child Care Forum, which work hand in hand with social workers, community based organisations and other structures in the community to ensure that the identified children get access to appropriate services. Given the high number of orphans and vulnerable children in this district, I want to encourage the communities where these structures are not in existence yet, to do so, as this will enable them to grow up in protective and caring communities.
Ladies and gentlemen, our government also provides various services to eradicate child poverty. Key among these is the social assistance programme, which to date benefits more nine million eligible through the provision of Child Support Grant. Based on research done across the world, The World Social Security Forum currently underway in Cape Town has unanimously agreed that social security programmes, like our own social assistance programme, are important instruments to fight poverty and has contributed to the decline of abject poverty in many countries, including, South Africa.
This confirms our long-held view that our social assistance programme is making a huge difference in poor people’s lives.
As I said earlier, the protection of children is one of the priorities of the South African government. The Children’s Act came into operation in April this year.
The act seeks to:
- stipulate principles relating to the care and protection of children
- define parental responsibilities and rights
- determine principles and guidelines for the protection of children and the promotion of their well being
- regulate matters concerning the protection and well-being of children.
Overall, the act aims to promote the best interest of a child as the most paramount concern of our government. It further makes provision for structures, services and means for promoting and monitoring the sound physical, psychological, intellectual, emotional and social development of children. The strengthening and development of community structures, to assist in providing care and protection to children is a key objective of the Children’s Act.
To give effect to the Children’s Act , one of our priorities is to build the capacity of all personnel and organisations working with children to ensure that they fully understand the provisions of the act and are able to implement them. In October I visited a number of community based organisations around the country, including this province and I was shocked by the conditions under which children live and by the poor services provided by some organisations. I want to ensure that all people and organisations working with children comply with the Children’s Act in order to protect our children and, I need your help to do this properly.
The study that we are launching here today is one of the many ways in which our government seeks to protect our children. Through this study we are able to know the geographical location of vulnerable children, their living conditions, and whether they do access government services or not. This enables us to see children not only in statistical terms, but to intervene in their lives in a way that will make a meaningful impact. Such information in our view, can serve as an effective planning tool for government, particularly at the local level through the Integrated Development Planning process.
We will share the valuable information in this study with our counterparts in government and with community based organisations to ensure coordinated planning and responses. On a periodic basis, we monitor and track these children to check their progress through different stages of their lives. We will work with other government departments and civil society to provide comprehensive services to such children including education, health services as well as protecting them from any form of abuse and exploitation.
With this valuable information in our hands, there should be no reason or excuse why children in Nquthu and many other communities should continue to suffer from poverty and deprivation. There is a saying that information is power. We must therefore use that power to lift many orphans and vulnerable out of poverty and many other challenges that adversely affect their lives.
With those few words, it is my pleasure to officially launch the maternal orphans surveillance study.
I thank you.
