World Vision Child Health Now Campaign

World Vision steers an ecumenical movement in South Africa to advocate for children’s rights to life and good health.

“The Church preaches abundant life, but baptises children and leaves them to die”, these were the sharp and thought-provoking words of Thabisile Msezana, one of the speakers at the recent National Church Leaders Summit hosted by World Vision South Africa in partnership with the SA Council of Churches.

The Summit drew together 75 influential local and national church leaders in South Africa to deliberate on the urgency of the church’s response to child mortality rates in South Africa. The Summit was part of Child Health Now campaign initiative aimed at ensuring that the church places child and maternal health as top priorities on their agenda.

With speakers from UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, NGOs and health experts, Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 became the cornerstone of the dialogue as speaker after speaker emphasised the amount of work that needs to be done.

Going back to basics

One of the key objectives of the summit was to create a framework of action on how the church can be engaged in advocacy and policy influence at local, national, and international levels on child and maternal health. Church leaders debated and shared ideas on practical ways the church can respond.

The group discussions culminated in a draft Child Health Now Framework of Action document which will serve as a guideline to guide the church’s advocacy efforts.

The CHN campaign will continue to monitor work done by the churches to ensure the dialogue translates into decisive actions, which will hopefully culminate into a meaningful involvement on a permanent basis.

Read more on World Vision’s Child Health Now Campaign