Children's health issues to be highlighted
- By Wits University
The Millennium Development Goals; Advances and new developments in paediatrics and child health Primary Health Care Re-engineering; and An essential health package of care for South Africa’s children, are some of the topics which come under the spotlight at the taking place this week.
The conference takes place from Thursday, 31 October 2013 to Saturday, 2 November 2013 at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital Auditorium at the Wits Medical School in Parktown and is hosted by the Division of Community Paediatrics in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the School of Clinical Medicine under the theme Getting the basics right: Child Health in 2013.
The media is welcome to attend. Please RSVP to Shirley.Cherane@wits.ac.za
With less than 1000 days to the deadline for realising the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the conference will focus on the actions required to achieve the MDG’s child health related goals. Although it is certain that South Africa will not meet MDG number four – a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality – recent successes in reducing child mortality in South Africa are encouraging news to child health practitioners.
, convenor of the conference and professor in the Division of Community Paediatrics says the conference will examine reasons for the unacceptably high on-going child mortality, but more importantly, participants will deliberate on how the situation can be rapidly improved.
“Solutions lie within health systems changes, improving access to care, programme implementation and extracting accountability. Prominent national experts such as Professor Gerry Boon, Professor Alex van den Heever and Mark Heywood will offer their insights on these issues,” says Saloojee.
Recognising that child health needs to move beyond child survival, the conference will highlight progress in national plans aimed at guaranteeing healthy childhoods for South Africa’s children through early child development and school health programmes.
Saloojee says primary health re-engineering has been a favoured strategy advocated to revive South Africa’s ailing health service, and a conference session will examine successes and challenges in realising the new strategy’s goals. “High quality, successful child health projects will be showcased in another session,” he says.
With more than 37 invited speakers packed into a two and a half day high intensity programme, conference participants can expect to be rewarded with a highly stimulating and inspiring event.
For more information on the conference visit http://childhealthpriorities.co.za
For media enquiries contact Vivienne.Rowland@wits.ac.za or Professor Saloojee on 082 863 4274 or email Haroon.Saloojee@wits.ac.za