Safe Kids South Africa

Injury Facts

• In South Africa, almost 6,500 children ages 0-14 die each year due to Accidental injuries.

• The leading cause is motor vehicle crashes (mainly involving pedestrians) , followed by fires, drowning, poisoning and falls.

• The accidental injury rate for children ages 0-14 is 44.3 per 100,000, and the annual cost of child injury deaths in South Africa is an estimated $2,146 million in U.S. dollars.

Who We Are

The Child Safety Centre was established in 1978 by the Chief Surgeon of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town in response to the massive number of child injuries encountered in the Trauma Unit of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.

The Child Safety Centre was formed by social workers, researchers and administrative staff, and from the beginning the Centre focused on education, research and advocacy. Support from the Department of Pediatric Surgery was essential in the development of the Child Safety Centre.

By 1987 the Centre had grown and was officially constituted as the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa (CAPFSA). The aim of the organization was primarily focused on three areas:

• Investigation of incidence and causes of childhood accidents in general and assessment of the long- and short-term effects of these accidents on children and society

• Development of educational programmers and dissemination of information on childhood accidents and methods for preventing them

• Campaigning  for a safe environment through active public awareness and legislation

What We Do

Khusela Abantwana, which means "safe kids" in isiXhosa (one of South Africa 's 11 official languages), will focus on developing relationships with relevant individuals and organizations in the private and public sectors. It will also concentrate on preventing the thousands of child injuries and deaths each year due to burns and poisonings from paraffin (kerosene), used by more than half of South Africa 's population for everyday activities like cooking, heating and lighting.

Safe Kids South Africa/Khusela Abantawana is currently collaborating with the South African Working Group for Injury Prevention, part of the Healthy World Health Organization's Healthy Environments for Children Initiative.

Where are we now? ( July 2005)

Child Passenger Safety Project

Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of accidental child injuries in South Africa . Although motor vehicle collisions involving pedestrians are the leading cause of death, the problem affects the entire South African population.

While Safe Kids South Africa/Khusela Abantawana's immediate focus will be on child passengers, issues affecting child pedestrians will be incorporated. These include:

• A survey of child passenger injury prevention activities including the development of a questionnaire.

• An investigation of child passenger seating and restraint practices in South Africa (cars, bakkies, taxis and buses).

• The development of child passenger safety information for distribution

• A child passenger survey conducted at toll roads over the Easter weekend with media coverage.

• Accreditation of car seat installation technicians followed by a car seat swap scheme.

• Researching, reviewing, benchmarking and recommending standards for child passenger seating.

• A review of legislation affecting child passengers and lobbying for relevant standards and legislation.

• A presentation and report at the Word Conference for Injury Prevention and Control 2006.