Latest news with #Children'sHospitalTrust
eNCA
03-06-2025
- Health
- eNCA
Dealing with the trauma of child abuse
JOHANNESBURG - Recent cases of child abuse and rape have triggered nationwide outrage and calls for tougher sentences. This Child Protection Month, the Children's Hospital Trust is highlighting the need to safeguard children. Doctors at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital say treating physical injuries is the easy part. That's the focus of their Child Protection Service Improvement Project. For more on this, we're joined by the Trust's CEO, Chantel Cooper.
IOL News
02-06-2025
- Health
- IOL News
Healing beyond medicine: The role of the Children's Hospital Trust in child protection
In the first 22 months after the launch of the Children's Hospital Trust's Child Protection Project, 566 child protection cases were reported. Behind hospital doors lie many untold stories, including the experiences of children and families who have witnessed or suffered various forms of abuse—be it sexual, physical, psychological, neglect, malnutrition, or violence. Children often lack a voice in these situations and bear the brunt of crime, poverty, environmental degradation, gang violence, and domestic disputes. Their rights are being violated, and society has failed to protect them. In recognition of Child Protection Week (May 29 – June 5), the Children's Hospital Trust is shining a spotlight on the urgent need to safeguard our children, not just from abuse but also from the systemic failures that violate their rights. Dr Fatima Khan, the Child Protection Improvement Project Coordinator at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, stated, 'We are seeing just the tip of the iceberg. We don't see the children who are fatally injured or those grazed by a bullet or who have witnessed a family member killed and must live with the psychological impact of that.' As the only specialist paediatric hospital in the Western Cape, the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital treats many of the most affected children. Each child enters the hospital seeking medical treatment, but for victims of abuse, neglect, or violence, healing involves addressing far deeper internal wounds. This includes children who have no family to return to, those suffering from flashbacks that leave them paralysed with fear, and mothers who blame themselves for their children's suffering.
IOL News
19-05-2025
- Health
- IOL News
Essential tips to prevent children getting burned
As winter creeps in, hospitals in the Western Cape brace for a devastating and familiar pattern: a sharp rise in young children arriving with horrific burns — many of them avoidable. In just one year, the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital treated over 3,000 children for burns, with 586 needing admission. Most were scalded by boiling water, hot drinks or bathwater — and more than 80% of these cases were entirely preventable. 'It happened so quickly. One minute I was preparing the cold water for her bath and the next, she was hurt. She pulled the kettle's cord and the hot water from the kettle caused burns,' said a mother whose daughter was admitted to the burns unit. Marking Burns Awareness Week this May, the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, the Children's Hospital Trust, and ChildSafe South Africa are urging urgent vigilance. Most burns occur between May and August — a time when caregivers, desperate to stay warm, unintentionally put children at risk.
IOL News
14-05-2025
- Health
- IOL News
Don't let your child become a statistic: essential tips to prevent burns
As winter creeps in, hospitals in the Western Cape brace for a devastating and familiar pattern: a sharp rise in young children arriving with horrific burns — many of them avoidable. In just one year, the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital treated over 3,000 children for burns, with 586 needing admission. Most were scalded by boiling water, hot drinks or bathwater — and more than 80% of these cases were entirely preventable. 'It happened so quickly. One minute I was preparing the cold water for her bath and the next, she was hurt. She pulled the kettle's cord and the hot water from the kettle caused burns,' said a mother whose daughter was admitted to the burns unit. Marking Burns Awareness Week this May, the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, the Children's Hospital Trust, and ChildSafe South Africa are urging urgent vigilance. Most burns occur between May and August — a time when caregivers, desperate to stay warm, unintentionally put children at risk.
