City encourages pre-school check-ups

4 January 2016

The City of Cape Town’s Health Directorate appeals to parents to have their children’s health checked before the start of the new academic year. All City clinics provide services designed to promote child health, including vaccinations.

While the bulk of immunisations are administered during the first 18 months of a child’s life, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in South Africa includes that children at the age of six and 12 years be given a tetanus vaccine and a reduced strength diphtheria vaccine.

"These injections are available free of charge at our clinics, so I appeal to parents to set aside a few hours and have the vaccination done. It’s a quick jab in the arm, but it’s a long-term investment in your child’s health and it also means that you can get on with other important things knowing that their health checks are taken care of."Siyabulela MamkeliCity Mayoral Committee Member: Health

City Health also offers deworming for children over the age of one, which is important as worms remain a common but easily treatable condition seen in many healthy children. In addition, City Health is able to check children’s vitals to eliminate any underlying health concerns, as well as their height and weight which are key indicators for potential malnutrition. Malnutrition is a key priority as it has the potential to negatively affect a child’s physical and mental development.

More information on City Health’s interventions to prevent malnutrition is available here.

"Your child is going to spend many hours of the day alongside dozens or hundreds of others at their crèche or school and we know how quickly illness can spread. As a parent, you can mitigate the risk of your child falling ill by making sure that their vaccinations are up to date and that their nutritional needs are met. In this way, your child will build a strong immune system, which in turn reduces their chances of becoming sickly. For those parents who might not know where to begin, our staff are on hand to assist and provide guidance." Siyabulela MamkeliCity Mayoral Committee Member: Health

In addition to on-site services at clinics, the City’s Environmental Health Practitioners conduct hundreds of outreach and awareness sessions at schools and edu-care facilities every year, focusing on good health habits as part of the broader health promotion strategy.

The Directorate also partners with community-based organisations in some areas to promote child health. These organisations conduct home visits and identify children who have not been vaccinated, are potentially malnourished, or who require other medical interventions, and then refer caregivers to their nearest clinic. Such interventions have taken place in Valhalla Park, Delft South, Netreg and Kahyelitsha in recent years.

‘We can’t wait in the hope that parents or guardians will one day realise that their child’s clinic visit is overdue. Sadly, it’s just not a priority for some and so we have tried to be more proactive by increasing our education and awareness drives. It is hard work and time-consuming, but as a caring city the welfare of children should come first and if their caregivers can’t appreciate that, then we have to step up and intervene,’ said Councillor Mamkeli.

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