The UCT Department of Paediatrics and Child Health takes child health and child wellness very seriously: we believe there is more to paediatrics than just treating diseases. 

We aim to preserve the health and well-being of children through preventative care, which includes promoting breastfeeding, providing vaccinations and ensuring optimal nutrition.  We promote children’s holistic development – physical, mental and emotional. We support families and caregivers to enable children with long-term conditions to thrive.  We focus on providing comprehensive care for individual children and addressing the upstream public health and societal-level factors that impact entire child populations.

Activities include:

• Integration of child services, via Provincial Clinical Governance Committee(PCGC), and  collaboration between hospitals, emergency medical services, transitional care facilities, child and adolescent mental health services, community health centres, city clinics and community-based services.
• Representation on Metro Maternal Women, Child, Adolescent, Neonatal (MWCAN) Forum, and liaison with other Service Co-ordinating Working Groups (SCWG’s): Chronic Diseases Management, Mental Health, HAST, Emergency and Surgical Services
• Liaison with other Metro clinical governance forums: Family Physician Forum; Midwife Obstetric Unit Support Executive (MOUSE).
• Analysis of Metro West child health data: vaccination coverage, breastfeeding rates, mortality, morbidity, and quality of care indicators
• Analysis of Child Healthcare Problem Identification (Child PIP) data regarding causes of death and modifiable factors
• Prioritization of relationship-building with non-profit organisation (NPO) partners and community-based services.
• Provision of paediatric input into Metro West Child Death Review, with UCT Forensic Pathology