CG 2019: Child and adolescent health

Suggested citation:
Shung-King M, Lake L, Sanders D & Hendricks M (eds) (2019) South African Child Gauge 2019. Cape Town: Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.

ISBN: 978-0-620-85838-0

This 14th annual review of the situation of the country’s children is published by the Children’s Institute (CI), University of Cape Town, in partnership with UNICEF South Africa; the DSI-NRF Centre for Excellence in Human Development, University of the Witwatersrand; The Standard Bank Tutuwa Community Foundation; and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. The theme of the 2019 issue – “Child and Adolescent Health: Leave no one behind” – is a call to prioritise child and adolescent health and put children at the heart of the health care system.

When citing the Child Gauge, please remember to acknowledge the authors of individual chapters, for example:

Shung-King M, Lake L, Sanders D & Hendricks M (eds) (2019) South African Child Gauge 2019. Cape Town: Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.

When linking to the book and its supplementary material, please link to this page, and not to individual pdfs downloaded from this page, as that separates the book from its accompanying material and other information on the series contained on our website. Thank you for complying with this request.

Click on the links below to download a PDF version.

Full Gauge

Full Poster

Policy brief

PART ONE: CHILDREN AND LAW REFORM

Legislative developments affecting children 2018/2019

PART TWO: CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH – LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

PART THREE: CHILDREN COUNT – THE NUMBERS

Child Guage 2019 Launch

RXradio is a radio station by and for children at Red Cross Children’s Hospital. Here their young reporters interview some of the speakers at the launch of the South African Child Gauge questioning the findings from a child-centred point of view.

Lori Lake on key findings of the 2019 South African Child Gauge

For an overview of the key findings, listen to Lori Lake deliver the social responsiveness lecture to the Department of Psychiatry, UCT.

This issue of the South African Child Gauge makes a powerful case for investing in child health. The science is clear. If we want to promote cognitive development, break the intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence, and halt the growing epidemic of obesity and non-communicable diseases, we need to invest early – starting in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life and continuing into adolescence. Investments during these two sensitive periods of development, yield the greatest returns.

Having not met our MDG targets for reducing maternal
and child mortality, it is particularly important that we
carefully monitor progress with regards to meeting the SDG
targets – we dare not take our eyes off the ball. This edition
of the Child Gauge can play an important role in monitoring
progress, identifying gaps and suggesting remedial actions.