University of Cape

Tuberculosis transmission rates in South Africa and more specifically Cape Town have not changed at all over the past 100 years, even though people are living longer and being cured because of treatment. Many are cured, only to be infected again.

Addressing the 1st Southern African HIV Clinicians Society conference today, University of Cape Town Professor Robin Wood presented fascinating data on TB in Cape Town and New York over the past 100 years.

The South African Child Gauge is published annually by the Children’s Institute, University of Cape, to monitor government and civil society’s progress towards realising children’s rights. This issue focuses on children and inequality.

Please access the book and all accompanying materials (a policy brief, poster, child-friendly summary and ordering form)  at http://www.ci.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=997&Itemid=399

The South African Child Gauge is divided into three parts:

PART ONE: Children and law reform

The South African Child Gauge is produced annually by the Children’s Institute, University of Cape to monitor government and civil society’s progress towards realising children’s rights. This issue focuses on children’s citizenship and participation rights.

The South African Child Gauge is divided into three parts:

The nursing shortage in Cape Town and surrounding areas is so bad that many managers won't give their staff time off to do advanced training courses. The advanced midwifery course at the university can accommodate 10 nurses, Clow said, but this year has four students. The child-nursing course, which can accommodate 15-20 nurses, has only nine. The Independent in London reported yesterday that Britain is continuing to loot the poorest nations of the world of their skilled medical staff to shore up the National Health Service (NHS) in defiance of a 2001 government ban on the practice. Figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) released yesterday show that 3 472 nurses from countries on the banned list were registered in the UK last year - almost a third more than the 2 638 who were recruited from developing countries two years ago, when the ban came into force. Most of the banned nurses are from Africa, where recruitment was 41% higher last year than in 2000/01. The biggest source is South Africa. The country supplied 1 480 nurses to Britain in 2002 and this year to date and a total of 6 739 over the past five years. NHS trusts are still critically short of the nurses they need to hit government targets to treat more patients and cut waiting lists. Although the NHS has recruited 37 000 more nurses since 1997, there are still shortages. Overseas recruitment is a way to fill the gap and NHS trusts are using private recruitment agencies to get round the ban. (Source: Jo-Anne Smetherham and Jeremy Laurence: The Cape Times, 13 May 2003 )