Health minister shocked by SA child death rate

Shocked? You must be kidding, Minister - those statistics have been published each year for the past seven years by Statssa, with a graph for those who get confused by spreadsheets. Go to www.statssa.gov.za (your own website) and search for "mortality rate".

And again to those who rave about govt healthcare - how do you answer this. The reason for this is purely as a conseuqnce of extremely poor aftercare i.e. nursing staff and support. My last 2 kids were delivered by me, at home, and all are healthy (I am an engineer not a doctor or midwife)- why, because of the aftercare. Govt. staff do not take pride in their work as a general rule.

And let me add, the graph makes very clear the reason for the increase in deaths over the last decade in this age cohort: it is the total failure of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMCT). Only a comprehensive appropriate antretroviral programme, coupled with government-sponsored nutrition of infants (to obviate breastfeeding) will reduce this statistic.

Finally someone gets the message and is willing to listen. No point in democracy if the people are spoken to but not listened to, and also credible studies are dismissed. Lets hope the DOH takes the SAMWU World Trade Organisation study on Health Services seriously as well! AND WE NEED to dispense with the Erwin/Manuel/Mbeki legacy in on CRITICAL respect - start making needed quality medicines cheaply by using our WTO rights to issue compulsory licenses and legally copy medicines. Why are we being ripped off by BigPharma. Erwin said leave the case in 1999 and we abandoned our legal rights. Medicines should be cheap and we should stop these monopolists from preferring profits over people. But hey, that is a pipe dream - till the bill for 2nd line HIV treatment comes home!

This Health Minister is a funny man of him to express his shock over this death rates. hasn't he notices in previous years of such incidences? Nhx!! he must be joking, a medical fundi like him expressing his shock over such daily national crisis it it a matter of time that he publicly announces that he is shocked of 'Swine Flu' at some point. Dr Minister take of your glasses and read aske for a copy from Stats SA and please read it through.

Exactly who's standards are we trying to meet here?The UN?You see,these millenium goals that you're talking about are just instruments which are meant to perpetuate the tutelage of the African masses.When will we act and legislate according to our own needs?Why must Africa dance to some one elses tune when we have leaders of the callibre of Presid4ent Robert Mugabe,who are tirelessly and ceaselessly working for the United States of Africa.This is what entrenches the inferiority complex which darkens our horizen even deeper than it has been intended by the westeners.Izwe Lethu.

I'm sorry Sindile, but did you just seriously question why we're aiming to have fewer babies die?

And we should be learning from Bob, who's presided over a drop in life-expectancy from 60 years in 1990 (which is not great) to 43?

Health Minister should be fired over child deaths.This is NOT NEW NEWS.Remember Madlala-Routledge everyone?She was fired for hilighting the same thing and that remained like that because the ANC didn't want to admit failing the people.

I would like to think that what Sindile Lembede Jantjie wrote is sarcasm but you never know with some of these people. There are the likes who celebrate the likes of Mugabe never mind what he has done to "his people" as he calls us and therefore there would be nothing wrong with questioning the thinking that people, especially vulnerable children, need better care.