Millions of people do not have access to proper sanitation and in South African schools the situation is especially dire. Health-e News Service conducted an informal survey of the state of 17 schools’ toilets that fall within four of the National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot districts. At all 17 schools the toilets were in a shocking condition. By OurHealth Reporters.
Read more

SECTION27’s work to improve sanitation in schools is starting to pay off, but progress is slow.
Read more

Health-e News Service conducted an informal survey of the state of 17 schools’ toilets that fall within four of the National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot districts. Read how each district performed.
Read more

VHEMBE. – With news about the gruesome rape and murder of Anene Booysen still fresh in the country’s psyche, news about the gang rape of a six-year-old girl shook the community of Mulodi Village in Limpopo where the crime took place.
Read more

SOSHANGUVE. – More than 300 Soshanguve residents recently took part in a campaign, called Raising Roots, that gives parents, grandparents and caregivers all the advice and knowledge they need to raise healthier, happier children.
Read more

JOHANNESBURG – The global delivery goals for mothers and newborns are noble. No woman should die while giving life. Yet, 280 000 woman die annually during birth.
Read more

JOHANNESBURG – A cheap antiseptic ointment, used to cleanse a newborn’s umbilical cord, can reduce the risk of infection and death in the first few weeks of life by as much as 20 percent.
Read more

JOHANNESBURG – Each year, about three million of the 7.7-million children who die before reaching their fifth birthday are newborns who do not survive their first four weeks of life. This situation has led to the top health agencies and child experts meeting in South Africa to formulate what will become the Global Newborn Action Plan.
Read more

JOHANNESBURG – Experts from around the globe are gathering this week to address the preventable and unnecessary deaths of newborns, which accounts for almost half of all deaths among children under five.
Read more

VHEMBE. – Requests to the Department of Education to upgrade facilities at the Mafukani pre-school have fallen on deaf ears, and have eventually resulted in a four-year-old nearly losing her life after being bitten by a snake in the sub-standard toilet facilities at the school.
Read more

Researchers in the United States today said that they have identified a case of a 'functional' HIV cure in a child infected with HIV who began antiretroviral treatment within days of birth. The child has now been off treatment for over a year, and although HIV DNA has been detected at very low levels in the child’s cells, the virus is not reproducing. Read the full report from aidsmap here.
Read more

South Africa has received global recognition for achieving a significant reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV.
Read more

Bethlehem – A 5-year-old girl died in the casualty ward at Phekolong Hospital in Bethlehem this week while nurses scurried around trying to find a bed for her in the casualty ward.
Read more

Despite knowing the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of a child’s life, many new mothers often encounter challenges that prevent them from breast-feeding.
Read more

African leaders were criticised for failing to prioritise immunisation with life-saving vaccines for children under five years of age to prevent deadly infectious diseases.
Read more

OurHealth. - A group of grade eight learners from the Paul Roux Intermediate School in the town of Paul Roux in the Free State were visited by a nurse as part of the Integrated School Health Programme of the National Health Insurance (NHI).
Read more

CAPE TOWN. – South African children have equal rights under the Constitution, but the worlds into which they are born and their opportunities in life are very unequal. This was the message Katharine Hall, senior researcher at the Children’s Institute (CI) at the University of Cape Town shared yesterday at the launched the South African Child Gauge 2012, an annual review on the state of South Africa's children.
Read more

Each year around a thousand young women addicted to crystal methamphetamine, or tik, give birth to so-called tik babies in Cape Town.
Read more

Around 200-million children, including many in South Africa, fail to meet their full developmental potential because of the debilitating impact of poverty – contributing to a cycle where poor countries remain poor.
Read more

Some spaza shop owners in Khayelitsha are selling Department of Health (DoH) formula milk that is marked "Not for resale". This milk is supposed to be given free to HIV-positive mothers to give to their babies instead of breast milk. By Mary-Jane Matsolo, GroundUp
Read more

MEDIA RELEASE: PRETORIA, 31 August 2012 – A new policy-orientated web portal on children’s rights called Policy Action Network, or PAN: Children, was announced during a panel discussion on children this morning. The portal is a partnership between the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Human Sciences Research Council’s (HSRC).
Read more

In South Africa about 4 300 women die due to complications related to pregnancy and child birth. About 20 000 infants are still-born and a further 23 000 die in the first month of life. In addition 75 000 children never live to reach the age of five. What are the causes for this?
Read more

A heart condition, which can be treated with a simple antibiotic, remains the leading cause of cardiac disease in children on the African continent.
Read more

Babies born to mothers in sub-Saharan who are overweight or obese are significantly more likely to die in the first two days after their birth, according to new research.
Read more

: Great progress has been made in reducing early mother to child transmission of HIV in the country. A study by the Medical Research Council (MRC) shows that the national HIV mother to child transmission rate was approximately two point seven percent in 2011.
Read more