The 10th Child Health Priorities Conference took place at the North West University in Potchefstroom from 28 to 30 November 2019. Dr Precious Motsepe – doctor, public health professional and First Lady of South Africa opened the event. The focus of the conference was on Championing Change for Children, and this year’s theme was about Survive, Thrive and Transform. There was a lot of discussions on the Nurturing Care Framework. On this trend, Dr Schlebusch and team presented their work on the implementation and evaluation of the World Health Organisation Caregiver Skills Training (WHO CST) intervention for families of children with developmental disabilities or delays. The team proposed alternative research methodologies for speeding up the process of finding sustainable and scalable interventions to address the existing service gap for this vulnerable group of children and families. The conference concluded with reflections on immediate actions that can be taken by individuals in their workplace. Conference participants left with renewed energy and motivation to “do what they can, with what they have, where they are” in the quest for creating positive change for children and families in South Africa.

Dr Liezl Schlebusch (University of Cape Town), Dr Tumelo Leeuw (North West Department of Health) and Associate Professor Welma Lubbe (North West University)