Including people with disabilities in social initiatives: 4 steps to get you started
“We have a moral duty to remove barriers to participation and to invest sufficient funding and expertise to unlock the vast potential of people with disabilities” – Professor Stephen Hawking As an Occupational Therapist working in the funding environment, I find it surprising that so many development programmes don’t think about including people with disabilities […]
Hands up if you love 3D printing innovations!
“My goal is to be able to drive a car one day” says Archie, a South African father with a left hand amputation. Archie and I met at a training workshop where he volunteered as a client for trainees, like myself, who are learning how to make and fit a 3D printed “Robohand“. Robohand’s “3D printing for […]
The Children’s Institute on the Child Death Review Pilot: We All Play a Role in Keeping a Child Safe
In March 2014 we told you how little was known about child deaths in the context of violence in South Africa (read the article here). In that same article we explained that to address this situation, the Children’s Institute has conceptualised a child death review mechanism which we will be piloted in KwaZulu-Natal and the […]
Preparing for an Ageing Population – Policy Implications for South Africa
South Africa’s fertility rate is declining and it is projected that this trend will continue. When persistent low fertility leads to a decline in the size of successive birth cohorts, it means that the population will start ageing. In this learning brief, HelpAge International considers what this means for the demands that will inevitably be placed on […]
Reports exploring progress, planning and budgeting to address gender-based violence in South Africa
“Violence against women is pervasive in South Africa where, as in many other countries, cultural values and norms serve to condone and reinforce abusive practices against women”[1]. A number of reports have been released by Government this year and provides important information and feedback with regards to progress made (in terms of implementing the Beijing declaration […]
How can we strengthen Primary Health Care for children with Cerebral Palsy in rural areas?
Worldwide, the assessment and diagnosis of children with Cerebral Palsy is a complex and contested area, as it relies on access to specialised medical and rehabilitation personnel. In South Africa, these resources are in short supply and usually not available in resource-constrained public health settings. In this learning brief, the Disability Action Research Team (DART) […]
Introducing Child Death Review Teams in South Africa: learning from international models
South Africa’s first national child homicide study conducted in 2009, established for the first time the relationship between child homicide and fatal child abuse in the country. This finding has increased efforts to promote the introduction of child death review teams in South Africa, so as to ensure that a comprehensive review is automatically done […]
Fatal child abuse in South Africa – what can we gain by establishing Child Death Review Teams?
In Cape Town, we pride ourselves on knowing the number of people who use the Aerial Cableway annually, to reach the top of Table Mountain – recently named among the New7Wonders of Nature. With the City having recently taken the top spot on the New York Times’ list of 52 places to visit in 2014, […]
Addressing Domestic Violence in South Africa: Feedback on the South African DOVA Workshop
Mosaic, an NGO specialising in the field of gender-based violence, recently released a short and informative report in which they give feedback on the South African DOVA workshop (download the report here). This document reports on strategic conversations of NGOs working to address the problem of domestic violence in South Africa. According to this […]
Big Sky and Cerebral Palsy in Nqutu
By Malamulele Onward and Tracy Smythe Malamulele Onward is a non-governmental organisation which provides specialised therapy (physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy) services, equipment and caregiver training to poorly -resourced rural areas of South Africa and other African countries where children severely disabled by cerebral palsy have little or no access to rehabilitation therapy and equipment. […]
