Medical Research Council

'Unstoppable wave of child mortality'

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust

HIV is the main driving force behind South Africa's high child death rates and unless there is a concerted effort to put child survival strategies in place the country faces an "unstoppable wave of child mortality”,’ paediatricians have warned.

Speaking at the national AIDS conference in Durban, Professor Nigel Rollins head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said South Africa was one of nine countries where child mortality was increasing.

Rollins had already warned earlier this year that "PMTCT fatigue” had set in and that multitudes of children were getting needlessly infected.