OPINION: Raising healthy children is not only a moral and legal obligation but remains a sustainable investment into a country’s future, write Chantell Witten and Shane Norris.
Dr Tshepo Motsepe undertook her engagement at the launch of the 2020 South African Child Gauge in her capacity as patron of the South African Civil Society for Women’s, Adolescents and Children s Health. Photo: GovernmentZA
Dr Tshepo Motsepe, a medical doctor and South Africa s first lady delivered the keynote address during the online launch of the South African Child Gauge 2020: Food and nutrition security on Thursday, 18 February 2021.
Dr Motsepe s keynote address focused on malnutrition, which casts a long shadow on children and their future, robbing them of health and well-being, condemning them to continued ill health while undermining their chances to learn, earn and escape poverty.
Shane Norris is a Research Professor within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Shane is the Director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU), and Director of the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Council’s Centre of Excellence in Human Development (CoE-HUMAN). He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa, and President of the Africa Chapter of the International Society of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Shane’s research expertise is in lifecourse nutrition and epidemiology.
18 February 2021 - Wits University
The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development at Wits helped develop the 15th issue of the South African Child Gauge®.
The Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town (UCT) publishes the Gauge annually to review the status of children in South Africa and to inform policy and programming.
The South African Child Gauge® 2020 was launched on 18 February in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation (DSI-NRF) Centre of Excellence in Human Development based at Wits University, the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of the Western Cape, the Standard Bank Tutuwa Community Foundation, the DG Murray Trust, and UNICEF South Africa.