Programme Director, Councillor Mohlala
MEC for Health and Social Development, Mme Segabutla
Councillors present here today
Senior officials
Members of the community
Avhuxeni
I feel privileged to be part of this event aimed at reducing the under five mortality in our country. Just a few days ago, I hosted a summit whose intention was to thoroughly look into the reasons why our children (under 5) die in our country. A lot of these deaths can be prevented. My call to all South Africans, in particular, health care workers and mothers is to stop these deaths!
As government we are aware of some of the challenges facing mothers in accessing child health services, such as long queues, shortage of medication and many others. This has been put high on the government’s priority list to ensure that our communities can use health facilities without any frustration. In addition, we are doing everything in our power to ensure that all South Africans can have equal access to quality health care by implementing the National Health Insurance.
It is of concern to us that our under five children are still dying from preventable diseases.
Under-nutrition, especially vitamin and mineral deficiencies, is a major health problem in our country, particularly in rural areas. In 2005 a study (national food consumption survey) conducted among children aged one to nine years showed that vitamin and mineral deficiencies are still widespread in the country.
Worm infestations are associated with a significant loss of micronutrients. Roundworms are the most prevalent soil-transmitted helminth infection in preschool children and cause poor absorption of vitamin A, which can aggravate malnutrition and anaemia rates and contribute to retarded growth.
It is for this reason that we are using different approaches to ensure that the most cost-effective and life saving intervention reach our children, such as the Child Health Week.
During the Child Health Week, an integrated high impact and cost effective package of services will be offered which includes, Vitamin A supplementation, deworming, catch up immunisation and growth monitoring. These services will be offered in designated sites that include clinics, schools, crèches, community halls and temporary posts in all nine provinces.
The selected services each contribute significantly to child survival. Vitamin A deficiency is the main cause of preventable blindness in children; it also plays an important role in strengthening the body’s resistance to infection. Children who are vitamin A deficient suffer an increased risk of death and illness, particularly from measles and diarrhoea. Vitamin A supplementation is one of the most cost-effective health interventions for reducing infant and child mortality, for instance, deaths from measles can be reduced by 50 percent. Thus by improving vitamin A status of deficient children increases their chances of survival.
Notably for this campaign we are not covering children below six months, because we believe that our children as it is our cultural practice are receiving the necessary nutrients and protection from breast milk. We encourage mothers to keep practices that were implemented by our grandmothers and are still relevant in today’s life. We are however fully mindful of the challenges that may prevent mothers from breastfeeding their infants, such as when there is a risk for HIV transmission.
Immunisation is an intervention that contributes to child survival by preventing deaths from preventable diseases. In South Africa we have a good Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI); hence our country was declared polio free in 2007. Yet, we still have children who miss out on their routine immunisation schedule. It is for this reason why catch-up immunisation will be offered during Child Health Week. Already, there are worrying reports regarding the outbreak of measles in some parts our country. In our view part of the cause for this outbreak has to do with some children not being allowed to benefit from the free yet vital immunisation programme that we offer to our citizens as government. Our appeal to all parents with small babies is to always look into the baby’s Road to Health Card to ensure that there is no stage of immunisation that has been omitted.
By bringing services to the people, we are not encouraging mothers to stop taking children to health facilities routinely. The benefits of this integrated package can only be realised if children receive Vitamin A and de-worming every six months, have their growth monitored regularly and are immunised according to schedule.
We all have a responsibility to give our children the best start in life and in doing so, we will be able to produce more brilliant athletes like Caster Semenya among others.
I am convinced that through this outreach programme we will reach millions of children. I would further like to encourage all parents, grannies and caregivers to take their children to receive these life saving interventions during this period and regularly thereafter to their nearby health facilities.
Let me take this opportunity to thank United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other stakeholders for their support for the Child Health Week and their continued commitments to child survival. It is essential for government and development partners to have a joint vision in addressing health issues.
I would also like to thank GSK and Path who have partnered with us in this campaign by making available some promotional material. To all parents and caregivers and those involved in early childhood development please let’s all take full advantage of this week and ensure that our babies, our children fully benefit from the services that our government offers.
Thank you very much.
Issued by: Department of Health
7 September 2009
