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Waiting is not an option in the first 1000 days: How a shared approach in Cape Town helps high-risk babies

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Child health, Focus, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, InFocus, Latest, Provinces

South Africa’s health department is overhauling its framework for disability services. It prompts an important question: When it comes to Cerebral Palsy – a wide-ranging motor disorder with possible comorbidities – what could a standardised package of baby care look like, especially within an overburdened public health system? Spotlight explores a collaborative approach in Cape Town aimed at optimising development during the critical first 1 000 days of life.

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OPINION: Oral health services for persons with special needs still lacking

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest

While there is relatively good access to preventative and promotive oral healthcare services in the country, it does not go far enough to address the vast oral health-related issues that persons with disabilities present with, writes Dr Bulela Vava. If the government is to truly care for the oral health needs of persons with special needs, it will have to take bold steps to invest in building the requisite secondary and tertiary oral health service capacity.

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Opinion: Better data is first step in improving services for persons with disabilities

Posted in: COVID-19, Healthcare system, Latest

South Africa ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2007 – but the data needed to track the implementation of the convention in South Africa is often incomparable across sectors, of low quality, or completely lacking. This limits civil society’s ability to hold the government accountable and makes it impossible to ensure equity for marginalised groups in how government plans, budgets, and implements services, argues Rural Rehab South Africa’s outgoing chair, Maryke Bezuidenhout.

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PART 2 – How can we reduce incidence of cerebral palsy in SA?

Posted in: Child health, Healthcare system, Latest

It is estimated that around half of medical negligence claims against the South African government are cerebral palsy-type claims. Apart from the direct impact on infants and families, cerebral palsy thus also has a major impact on health budgets. In this second article in a two-part series, Elri Voigt asks what can be done to reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy in the country. In part 1 we looked at what we know about cerebral palsy in South Africa.

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In-depth: Cerebral palsy in SA – Part 1

Posted in: Child health, Healthcare system, Latest

It is estimated that around half of medical negligence claims against the South African government are cerebral palsy-type claims. Apart from the direct impact on infants and families, cerebral palsy thus also has a major impact on health budgets. In this first article in a two-part series, Elri Voigt asks what we know about cerebral palsy in South Africa. In part 2 we will look at what can be done to reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy in the country.

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