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15th International Safe Communites Conference. Click here (PDF) www.cmc.uct.ac.za

First Aid for Burns: What to do. Graphically presented.
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Child Safety Month 2005 -
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Watch That Child! -
Child safety is no accident. more

CAPFSA 25th Anniversary - Feedback on 25th Anniversary banquet. more

CAPFSA 25th Anniversary - International Conference held in October 2003. more

Safety Tips (English) - Points to note around the house - graphically presented. click here

Safety Chart (English) - Savlons Family Safety Chart - graphically presented. click here

The Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa (CAPFSA) organized this conference entitled "Towards a Child Safe South Africa" at the Colleges of Medicines of SA on 16 & 17 October 2003 to celebrate 25 years of child accident prevention. The conference was divided in two days, the first day discussing accidental injuries and the second day discussing non-accidental injuries. We were privileged to have two famous international speakers, Professor David Lloyd, Past President of the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons, who has a particularly interest in Paediatric Trauma and Professor Sir David Hall, who was President of the College in the United Kingdom.

First day: Accidental injuries

The burden of child injuries is massive. Accidental injury puts more children in the hospital than any other single cause. Prevention of childhood injuries in the third millennium will mean a role for everyone! In 1978, the necessity for a Child Safety Centre was recognised and the Child Safety Centre was established. The organisation gradually grew and in 1987, the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa was established. The Child Accident Prevention Foundation has been instrumental in developing collaborative work and partnerships with a large number of organizations. What has been progressively recognised in recent years is that the ideal trauma care for children should constitute of three major pillars, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. These aspects cannot be seen as separate entities but have to be regarded as a union. As a result, the period of trauma care should be an integration of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. There is also a very close association with the social class gradient. The social class gradient has become steeper over time and the major advantages in health education will only reach people in the higher social classes. Therefore, child accident prevention cannot be seen separate from social development. However, the only possible way to predict and design a future we want is to plan it properly. A bright future for child safety can only be achieved by abandoning the traditional health care models and practices, and a massive rise in public awareness and the creation of fruitful health partnerships. Government should also be advised to shift public spending from health rather to safety promotion. This would be substantially cheaper and more effective and result in a healthier nation. Proper training can only be achieved when you have high quality data and we set strict socio-economic targets. There has to be close co-operation between the researching organizations such as the MRC and Child Accident Prevention Foundation and the politicians. The politicians have the power to implement legislation and interventions, however, they are often restrained by a limited understanding of the complexity of the problems. Therefore, all programmes should be carefully evaluated and the activity of programmes and legislation should also be researched by the same people who advocated the changes.

Second day: Non-accidental injuries

Safety and in particular, safety of the child should be everybody's business. What are the major challenges for preventing child abuse in South Africa? First of all, the rates of abuse have to come down, we have to also carefully take the political situation into consideration and find methods and ways to creatively build an adjusted and stable society. We will have to change their patriarchal world-view, which is so embedded and entrenched in our society. We should change the attitude of insensitivity and lack of awareness of child injuries. Furthermore, the government should provide more resources and services towards the prevention of child abuse. In summary, abuse is part of a much wider problem and can never be regarded as a single entity. The prevention involves a change in the attitude of the whole society and all individuals, organisations and government towards violence and towards our children. Professionals have to be better informed about their role and tasks in the prevention of child abuse. The South African society is substantially different from the rest of the world and although the international literature can provide us with important and essential information, it is the task of organizations such as the Child Accident Prevention Foundation and the MRC to do proper research in what is need and where the bottlenecks are. The focus should not only be on communities but also on the responsibility of individuals within our society.

To summarize the conference, we came to a number of points:

1. The South African society should change its approach to child injuries from reactive to proactive. This will be much cheaper, more effective and lead to less injuries, and in the long term a much more stable society than a reactive approach.

2. We should create an entrenched awareness of the fragility of children and we have to lose the perception that children are small adults. We have to carry common responsibility for what happens to any child in our society, even the street children.

3. We envisage an integrated trauma prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. All organizations should co-operate as much as possible and there should be broad communication channels between organizations, frequent meetings and duplication of work should be prevented.

4. We should create a language of prevention. We should develop a language of prevention, which will create awareness and active thinking regarding prevention. If you don't mention prevention, it won't exist.

Finally we would like to create a language of "WE CAN" instead of "WE SHOULD". So often, at conferences and meetings, beautiful words are spoken regarding child accident prevention and the things we should do. However, no child is helped unless we actually do something ourselves.

AB van As Director: Child Accident Prevention Foundation Head: Trauma Unit, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Rondebosch

On behalf of the organizing committee and the participants at the Conference we wish to thank the sponsors, Woolworths and Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute (US) for their generous support. Their vision and generosity made this meeting possible.