South Africa has made significant progress recently in reducing child mortality. However, progress in saving lives at the time of birth has been slow and reports contend that in South Africa, the first day of a baby's life is by far the most dangerous. New research shows that every year in South Africa 7,500 babies who are born alive die on their first day. That's 21 babies every day - or almost one an hour. It is in this background we have established and positioned CHILD HEALTH NOW as a voice to fight to end preventable deaths of mothers and children in our country.
![[Child Health Now]](../wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Child-Health-Now1.jpg)
![[Thursdays in Black]](../wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/thursdays-in-black.jpg)
Campaign against sexual and gender based violence (Thursdays in Black)
You can get involved by showing solidarity and advocating against all forms of sexual and gender based violence by taking one of the following actions
- Wear black every Thursday.
- Say NO and speak out against women and child abuse.
- Encourage your colleagues, your place of worship, other NGOs and businesses to support the campaign.
- Donate resources to organizations working to end violence against women and children.
- Seek help if you are emotionally, physically or sexually abusive to your partner and/or children.
- Try and understand how your attitude and actions might perpetuate sexism and violence.
- Lobby for gender-based violence to be a human rights issue, not just a gender issue.
![[Child Protection]](../wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/protection-of-children.png)
Protection and participation of Children
World Vision is fully committed to protect the security, privacy, and dignity of the children whose parents/guardians and community leaders have graciously allowed to be a part of our child sponsorship programs.
![[Quality Education]](../wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/quality-education.png)
Child Friendly and Quality Education for all
World Vision South Africa calls upon the government of South Africa to ensure access to child friendly, quality and relevant education for all children especially those in rural areas, informal settlements and former homelands through:
- Prioritization of Early Childhood Development as well as vocational training
- Fast tracking the improvement of education infrastructure in the form of mud schools in parts of the country where these are still in large numbers
- Improvement of the integration of children with disabilities in education
- Improvement of teacher training or teacher education
- Putting effective strategies to improve numeracy and literacy