1. CHILD SURVIVAL Kashifa Abrahams - Senior Researcher Child Health Service Programme

2. Purpose • Children’s Institute • Background - Why child survival? • Child survival in Rights framework • Way forward

3. Mission of CI • The Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, aims to contribute to policies, laws and interventions that promote equity and realize the rights and improve the conditions of all children in South Africa, through research, advocacy, education and technical support.

4. Current status of Child Survival in SA • IMR 60/1000 live births • U5MR 95/1000 live births • 10 deaths of children under 5 yrs every hour

5. 7 3 10

6. Main causes of child deaths • Largely preventable • HIV/AIDS • Diseases of poverty (e.g. diarhoeal disease, malnutrition, pneumonia) • Trauma (Road traffic accidents & violence, which include homicide and suicide etc.) • Age 0 to 4 years - burns • Age 5 to 14 years - MV pedestrian • Age 15 to 64 years - firearms • Other: neonatal sepsis, preterm births

7. Out- patient Density

8. Why work from a rights perspective? • What are human rights? • Human rights are about legal rights and legal duties • Rights holders: all children under 18 • Duty bearers: all government departments • Legal instruments: • Constitution of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 • International law: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child • Non-binding agreements: Millennium Development Goals Analyze child survival in terms of rights holders and duty bearers

9. Relationship between international & constitutional law • The right to survival exists only in international law. It is incorporated to South African law through the right to life and through the socio-economic rights and through the duty to respect protect and promote. • Also international law must be considered

13. What does this mean in practice? • All persons under 18 have the right to max. survival and development • Binds all government departments and other bodies • Analyse the hazards for different age groups to formulate responses

14. Way forward • Acknowledgement & Awareness • Mainstreaming – Child Rights-Child Survival & Development • Integrated Plan • Multi-level, co-ordinated responses • Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Survival

15. Take Home Message • Child Survival warrants URGENT attention in South Africa • JMC has KEY ROLE to play – to enhancing prospects for survival for the nation’s children