Childrens Right to Basic Health Care Services

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Childrens Right to Basic Health Care Services

• Mira Dutschke
• Researcher Child Rights Programme
• Kashifa Abrahams
• Senior Researcher Child Health Services
  Programme

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Mission

• The Childrens Institute, University of Cape
  Town, aims to contribute to policies, laws and
  interventions that promote equity and realise the
  rights and improve the conditions of all children
  in South Africa, through research, advocacy,
  education and technical support.

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Introduction

• Mira
• Legal framework
• Interpreting the right to access to health care
  services reproductive service
• Child rights perspective
• South Africas national and international human
  rights obligations
• Kashifa
• Child survival in context challenges (child
  deaths)
• Right to max. survival development Right to
  access health care
• Recommendations
• Conclusion

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THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK
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RECOMMENDATIONThe link to access to health care
services

• The integration of basic health care service
  as defined above must be included in the overall
  national development plans to ensure that the
  delivery of all the aforementioned elements are
  co-ordinated, monitored and evaluated.

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Child Survival in South Africa

• Survival - All Persons Under 18 Years
• Child population
• 39 of population (18 million children)
• Child poverty (2005)
• 55 (10 million out of 18 million children)
• R800/month/household (Child Gauge 2006)

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CHILD DEATHS

• Worst outcome of child survival
• IMR 60/1000 live births
• (MRC-BoD, 2000)
• U5MR 95/1000 live births
• (MRC-BoD, 2000)

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Millennium Development Goal 4

1 South Africa Demographic Health Survey
1998 2 What are the leading causes of death
among South African children? MRC - BoD, 2000 3
Millennium Development Goals Country Report
South Africa
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Preventable Causes of Child Deaths

• Children under-5 years
• HIV/ AIDS contribute to 29 of deaths of children
  under the age of 5 years
• Neonatal causes e.g. neonatal sepsis linked
  maternal health
• Diseases of poverty (28.6) - diarrhoeal disease,
  pneumonia and malnutrition
• (MRC - BoD, 2000)
• Children over 5 years
• External causes of death (trauma, violence and
  injuries)

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RECOMMENDATION

• Integrated response - child deaths
• Related - failure to realise a myriad of
  socio-economic as well as civil and political
  rights
• Regressive trend around child survival must be
  acknowledged and prioritised across all
  government departments
• Improve data - credible, available, disaggregated
  data
• Childrens right life, maximum survival and
  development should be mainstreamed through all
  government departments

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CONCLUSION

• Currently South Africa is 1 of 7 countries
  (Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Rwanda, Swaziland,
  Zambia) on the continent that show regressive
  trends in terms of child survival
• Reprioritise child survival
• Feed information back
• National Plan of Action for Children
• Countrys progress report - MDGs
• Countrys report on - UNCRC
• All relevant national government departments
  (e.g. Departments of Water, Social Development,
  Housing, and Local government)