The case fatality rate for malnutrition at St Barnabas Hospital over the past years has been around 38%. The rates in other district hospitals in the Eastern Cape province were found to be in excess of 30%. In June 2000, the Eastern Cape Department of Health introduced a protocol for in-patient management of children with severe malnutrition, with the aim of reducing case fatality rate below 10%. St Barnabas Hospital introduced the Eastern Cape protocol in August 2003. An evaluation was done in November 2003 to assess the protocol's impact on the case fatality rate. The rate remained high, at 37.5%. This study descibed the current practices and attitudes of the nurses as St Barnabas Hospital paediatric ward, in the management of severely malnourished childen.

Thesis (M.A.(Demography and Population Studies))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, 2016 / BACKGROUND: Under-5 children in KwaZulu-Natal are highly exposed to dying before reaching five years of life. Studies have been conducted to understand the demographic and socioeconomic factors that influence under-5 mortality, both nationally and internationally, with some contradicting findings on the association between some socioeconomic and demographic factors and under-5 mortality. While some studies found child mortality to be significantly associated with rural geographical place of residence, the reverse has also been established. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between socioeconomic and demographic factors and under-5 mortality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. DESIGN: The study was cross-sectional, and utilises 2011 Census secondary data set from Statistics SA. Overall, the census revealed that 55 476 children under the age of 5 had died in the 12 months prior to the census nationally. In KwaZulu-Natal this figure was 15 356. The 10% sample showed that 1 474 under-5 children had died in the same period in KwaZulu-Natal. STATA 12.0 was used for the analysis. Binary logistic regression model was used to examine the association between under-5 mortality and the independent variables. RESULTS: The major findings of the study indicated that (i) male children were 1.22 times more likely to die compared to female children under the age of 5 years; (ii) mothers who had no schooling (AOR=1.82); mothers with primary level of education (AOR=2.43); and mothers with secondary level of education (AOR=1.77), were more likely to experience under-5 mortality compared to mothers with tertiary level education; (iii) mothers whose age at first birth was between 15-19 years (AOR=1.47) and those whose age at first birth was between 25-34 years (AOR=2.14) were more likely to experience under-5 mortality compared to mothers whose age at first birth was between 35-49 years; (iv) Black mothers were more likely to experience under-5 mortality compared to Indian mothers (AOR=5.99); (v) mothers who were employed were 1.22 times more likely to experience under-5 mortality compared to unemployed mothers. Lastly, under-5 mortality was less likely amongst mothers in the medium households compared to those from low income households (AOR=0.65). CONCLUSION: This study found that socioeconomic and demographic factors substantively determine under-5 mortality in KwaZulu-Natal. Evidence from this study suggest that interventions aimed at reducing under-5 mortality should focus on black women, the younger women, the less educated and those with low household income. / MT2017

The case fatality rate for malnutrition at St Barnabas Hospital over the past years has been around 38%. The rates in other district hospitals in the Eastern Cape province were found to be in excess of 30%. In June 2000, the Eastern Cape Department of Health introduced a protocol for in-patient management of children with severe malnutrition, with the aim of reducing case fatality rate below 10%. St Barnabas Hospital introduced the Eastern Cape protocol in August 2003. An evaluation was done in November 2003 to assess the protocol's impact on the case fatality rate. The rate remained high, at 37.5%. This study descibed the current practices and attitudes of the nurses as St Barnabas Hospital paediatric ward, in the management of severely malnourished childen.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / South Africa’s violence and injury death rates pandemic are steadily growing. Global estimates reported by the World Health Organisation (2000) have revealed that there is an increase in worldwide deaths. Approximately 5 million people die as a result of injuries each year and hundreds of thousands more are left physically or psychologically scarred (World Health Organisation, 2000). There are alarmingly high incidences of violence, crime and injury deaths in South Africa and the impact of these injury fatalities is imposing an immense burden on government, communities, families and even individuals. The burden of fatal injury mortalities has not fallen evenly. In South Africa, low socio-economic communities have borne the brunt of this epidemic. This study presents a focus on mortality and injury patterns and emerging problem areas for children and youth in a peri-urban setting. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the fatal injury mortality and suicide data of children and youth in the Stellenbosch district, in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problem areas of injury deaths such as the main causes and consequences and age, sex, race and other pertinent comparisons. The study also aimed to consider the impact and relationship between alcohol abuse and youth injury deaths. Mortuary data were compiled from 591 children and youth cases for the period 2001-2005 in the Stellenbosch district using the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System data form. The present study highlighted several key findings. Transport-related deaths were indicated as a serious cause for concern among both children and youth in peri-urban settings. The importance of specific road safety awareness initiatives within peri-urban areas and among specific age groups were also indicated. Violence-related deaths were determined to be a leading cause of death among the older age groups in the youth category, with sharp force objects being the leading external cause of violent deaths. This highlighted an additional key finding reporting that sharp force objects death are a more serious cause for concern than firearm deaths in peri-urban areas, which challenges previous urban data. vi Burns and drowning were indicated as pertinent cause of unintentional deaths among both children and youth within peri-urban areas. This was suggested to be due to the high use of paraffin enabled heating systems in house in peri-urban areas and the lack of safety surrounding materials such as matches in the home. In addition, suffocation deaths among infants were also identified as a concern. Furthermore, the link between alcohol abuse among the youth age group was indicated by a key finding that alcohol is a prominent risk factor for fatal injury mortalities among youth. However more studies are needed to explore the effects and risks of other substances on youth fatal injury deaths. Several implications of the research findings are identified for health care professionals, policy developers, government departments and non-government organisations to consider in reducing the mortality rates of children and youth. These implications are critical in informing preventative interventions and initiatives aimed at enhancing safety to children and youth living in peri-urban areas within South Africa. vii