Public-Private partnerships key to addressing South Africa’s childhood mortality rate
Rampele Morewane, Chief Director for the District Health System for the National Department of Health, on Tuesday 27 March 2012 delivered an address on behalf of the honourable Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, on the issue of South Africa’s under-five child mortality rate.
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- The cheque handover at the Red Cross Memorial Hospital
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- Pupils together with Rampele Morewane, Chief Director for the District Health System for the National Department of Health
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- Pupils from Bathokwa Primary School, together with Rampele Morewane, Representative from National Department of Health
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- Helen White from the Children’s Trust together with Idols finalist Lloyd Cele at the Red Cross Hospital
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- Detto show for the children at the Red Cross Hospital together with Idols finalist Lloyd Cele
Morewane served as the keynote speaker at the launch of Dettol South Africa’s Health for More Life campaign which was held at the Bathokwa Primary School in Saulsville, Pretoria. As part of the campaign, Dettol donated R1 million to the Children’s Hospital Trust, fundraiser for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and Paediatric Healthcare in the Western Cape (Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital). The full donation will go towards the establishment of a Centre for Childhood Infectious Diseases at the hospital.
The Health for More Life campaign is aimed at supporting government’s Millennium Development Goal 4, which targets a reduction of South Africa’s under-five childhood mortality rate to 2% by 2015 [1].
“Instilling good hygiene practices in our homes and communities is everyone’s business and corporate South Africa has a critical role to play in partnering with government as it works to reduce the country’s under-five childhood mortality rate. Since 1995, Dettol has been active in educating urban and rural communities on the correlation between hygiene and communicable diseases. Over the past five years, our education programme has reached over 13 million South Africans.
“With our R1 million donation to the Children’s Hospital Trust we are hoping to lay the foundation for better paediatric health in our nation by making a significant contribution towards the reduction in the country’s childhood mortality rates,” says Francesco Fattori, senior vice president for Reckitt Benckiser Africa, owner of brand Dettol.
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[1] Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – Report 2011; UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation; United Nations Children’s Fund; fig 3, pg17; http://www.childinfo.org/files/Child_Mortality_Report_2011.pdf
“The establishment of a specialised Centre for Childhood Infectious Disease will assist the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital to continue its mission of improving the survival of children in Southern Africa. The main focus of the Centre will be to conduct research, consult, collaborate and treat thousands of children desperately ill with HIV, TB and malaria,” says Helen White, communications manager for The Children’s Hospital Trust.
Globally, approximately 21,000 children under the age of five died every day in 2010, equating to 7.6 million [2] children or more than 20 deaths every 5 seconds. Of these deaths, newborns and infants are most at risk with 40% of children dying within the first month of life, while over 70% of all deaths occur in the first year of life [3].
In South Africa, 5.7% of all live births [5], or one in every 17 newborns, resulted in death within the first year as a result of communicable diseases. Acute respiratory infections (colds, flu and ear infections) and diarrhoea are cited as the main culprit [4].
“The vast majority of these communicable diseases and resulting deaths can be prevented via simple hygiene practices such as regular hand-washing. The recent
Hygiene Promotion and Illness Reduction Study [5] found that infectious illnesses can be reduced by 75% when good hygiene habits are paired with anti-bacterial products. “This study as well as many others done by the Global Hygiene Council reiterates the power of basic hygiene habits in saving lives,” says Dr Letlape executive director of the Tshepang Trust and President of the African Medical Association.
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[2] Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – Report 2011; UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation; United Nations Children’s Fund; fig 3, pg17; http://www.childinfo.org/files/Child_Mortality_Report_2011.pdf
[3] Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – Report 2011; UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation; United Nations Children’s Fund; fig 3, pg17; http://www.childinfo.org/files/Child_Mortality_Report_2011.pdf
[4] The global burden of disease: 2004 update, World Health Organisation, p.14. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GBD_report_2004 _update_full.pdf
[5] Taken from the Hygiene Promotion and Illness Reduction Study conducted 2006 and 2007 amongst 740 children under the age of five
