Development Talk

Check out this interesting article from The Times following a report made by the UN and the SA Human Rights Commission. The article discusses South Africa continues to neglect its most vulnerable, in particular, children, as they are negatively impacted by a lack of a proper home, health care and schooling.

Some of the report’s troubling findings include:

• 64%, or 11.9million, of the country’s 18.6million children live in poverty. Many of them are Aids orphans – about 5.5million people have HIV/Aids in South Africa, more than in any other country

• Only 54% of the HIV-positive children who should be on antiretroviral treatment are receiving it;

• More than 270 babies and their mothers die after birth on average a day, mainly due to HIV/Aids, and the maternal mortality rate has increased by 80% since 1990;

• 582000 children who should be attending high school are not – 28% don’t have the money for fees and 15% because “education is useless”;

• Of 56500 children who were victims of violent crime in 2009-2010, 27417 were raped or molested. Of those, 29% were aged between 0 and 10.

Read the full article below:

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The Times: Young,hungry,helpless

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article986417.ece/Young-hungry-helpless

UN,USA

Speakers take part in the Health Summit held in Khayelitsha. Photo: Nondumiso Ntsengentsu

Speakers take part in the Health Summit held in Khayelitsha. Photo: Nondumiso Ntsengentsu

Khayelitsha residents came in great numbers to the two-day Health Summit that was held at Isiphiwo Primary School in Harare on Saturday and Sunday, 20-21 November. This was their chance to voice their concerns regarding health care service delivery. 

SANGOCO Western Cape, People’s Health Movement South Africa, DKT International, City of Cape Town, and other role players in public health met with the members of the community discuss these issues.

Funders and sponsors like Capitec Bank gave messages of support at the Summit and the current status of health in Khayelitsha was discussed by Dr Virginia Azevedo of the City Health Department.

In her presentation, Dr Azevedo showed that there is a high mortality rate for children under the age of 5 with Gastro-Aids. The high number of people who are suffering from womb cancer shows the poor access to antenatal care in Khayelitsha, compared to other areas like Michell’s plain.

Professor Nomafrench Mbombo, a deputy director at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) School of Nursing said antenatal care during pregnancy is of great importance, so that problems with the health of the mother or the baby can be diagnosed at an early stage. “No woman should die unnecessary,” she said. (more…)

Why are our children violent?

 

November 17, 2010

Children need to be loved and protected from violence to stop them from becoming perpetrators of violence themselves. Photo: Thetravellinged via Flickr

Children need to be loved and protected from violence to stop them from becoming perpetrators of violence themselves. Photo: Thetravellinged via Flickr

South Africa was recently shocked by the gang-rape of a school girl by three of her fellow pupils. The girl was drugged and raped while other pupils watched and filmed it on their cellphones. Why are some children in South Africa so violent and what can be done about it?

Some people have spoken about a “culture of violence” in South Africa, but implying that violence is inherently South African is not helpful. The cause of the problem needs to be found and addressed.

South Africa is not the only country that struggles with violent and dysfunctional youth. Safe Families Safe Children, an international group of renowned child rights organisations, including ACER Brasil, The International Children’s Trust, JUCONI Ecuador, JUCONI Mexico, New Life (South Africa) and Railway Children (UK, India and East Africa) “promote access for highly excluded children from violent homes around the world to the support and services they require to recover from their traumatic life experiences and gain sustainable access to their rights”.

In this organisation’s “Manifesto of Change” they site the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study which “found a clear link between the adverse experiences in childhood (including physical, emotional or sexual abuse and living in households with domestic violence) and a range of physical, emotional and social problems, including: heart disease, obesity, depression, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, rape and poor job performance”. (more…)

The civil servants strike has brought learning and health care to a standstill. Photo: Kool_skatkat via Flickr

The civil servants strike has brought learning and health care to a standstill. Photo: Kool_skatkat via Flickr

South Africans are lucky to live in a country that has a Constitution which confers on its citizens many rights and freedoms. However, problems arise when you trample on someone else’s rights in the process of  practising your own.

Currently the members of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa, the Public Servants Association, Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA and the South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (SADTU) are exercising their constitutional right to freedom of assembly, demonstration, picketing and petition.

These civil servants are on strike to demand a 8.6% increase with a R1 000 housing allowance. But in the process they are denying others their rights.

What about health and education?

According to the Constitution everyone has the right to basic education and further education. However, learning has come to a halt in schools across the country because teachers are striking.  Exams are just around the corner, but the Gauteng Education Department has decided to postpone the preliminary matric exams until the 3rd week of  September.

The Constitution also says that everyone has the right to health care. But health care practitioners are also striking and patients are being neglected. People who are sick, especially children, cannot fend for themselves. The Constitution says that everyone has the right to life and if the lives of these patients are put in danger because of the strike, their rights are being severely compromised.

Volunteers are helping out in schools and hospitals around the country, improving the plight of learners and patients slightly. But a speedy resolution will have to be found for this strike to avoid more rights being trampled on.

What do you think about the ongoing strike? How can it be resolved? Leave a comment below.