Children as Partners in Health
Location
Hartbeespoort, NW Province
South Africa
25° 44' 35.3616" S, 27° 54' 3.4056" E
Children as Partners in Health works with children who require long-term health care for TB and HIV, engaging them in identifying how to make their hospitals, clinics and treatment programs more healing places that honor children’s rights and capabilities and recognize that health is about mind and spirit as well as the physical body. The successful first phase of the project in KwaZulu-Natal will be scaled up for national impact.
Reason:
The award will enable Children as Partners in Health to spread through South Africa its successful model for engaging TB and HIV-affected children and youth in helping to develop best health care practices, and give the project visibility it merits to serve as an international model for working with children in long-term health care in collaborative and holistic ways. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that children have a right to express their views in all matters that affect them (article 12), which includes how they are treated when they are sick. The project demonstrates how to honor this right in creative and compassionate ways that result in more caring hospitals and clinics and more effective treatment programs.
The award will enable Children as Partners in Health to spread through South Africa its successful model for engaging TB and HIV-affected children and youth in helping to develop best health care practices, and give the project visibility it merits to serve as an international model for working with children in long-term health care in collaborative and holistic ways. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that children have a right to express their views in all matters that affect them (article 12), which includes how they are treated when they are sick. The project demonstrates how to honor this right in creative and compassionate ways that result in more caring hospitals and clinics and more effective treatment programs.
Organization: Young Insights for Planning
First name: Jill
Last name: Kruger
City: Hartbeespoort, NW Province
Country: South Africa
Comments
The approach of this project is very special in that the materials present ways of engaging with children about their health from the point of view of the children themselves. In so doing this speaks strongly to the hearts and then the minds of health carers and decision makers who view these, eliciting a caring response that encourages a change in the way that children are perceived. Eliciting this 'heart change' is much more effective in catalysing a different way of being with the children in healthcare than any top-down policy reform process could be. This was strongly evident from the inspired and joyful way in which health carers involved in the project initiated child centered changes in their own institutions.
Shortly, the prize money would enable us to finish our video with a 9 year old boy whose stirring INSIGHTS EXTEND the content of our AWARD-NOMINATED CHILDREN AS PARTNERS IN HEALTH VIDEO http://24.89.112.65/yip The AFRICA STUDIES CENTER (ASC) at University of Johannesburg is TRANSLATING our 1 page GUIDELINE LEAFLET into OTHER AFRICAN LANGUAGES –the ENGLISH LEAFLET is item 1 on our downloads page http://24.89.112.65/yip Then we’ll link with partners in our network to PROMOTE Children as Partners in Health in the remaining 8 SOUTH AFRICAN PROVINCES. Thank you for your interest from the far off US of A. WHAT RESONANCE DOES OUR APPROACH HAVE WITH YOU PERSONALLY?
Many thanks for your interest and query, Mark!
FIRSTLY - Children as partners in health offers guidelines not only for children with HIV and TB infection, but for all children made vulnerable by illness or other circumstance.
Prof Louise Chawla - University of Colorado - an internationally acclaimed environmental child psychologist, used our principles and processes in a ‘Roots and Shoots’ project with children through the Jane Goodall Institute. Watch the internet for their e-book: Kids and animals: from the hands and hearts of children and youth.
Many hospitals, NGOs, and education programs in South Africa have integrated Children as partners in health into their programs. Abroad, it is used by Birmingham University’s Institute of International Education (UK), Wollongong University Education faculty, Open University's Child and Youth Studies (UK). CHIVA (Children’s HIV Association, UK) contributed to the video and booklet and uses both widely in their work.
Dr Vincent Tihon (World Health Organization), describes our project and materials as “very good” and important to introduce widely. The nature of public/private partnerships here requires us to find sponsorship to take our initiatives to scale.
SECONDLY - we have recently developed a partnership with the new Africa Studies Centre at the University of Johannesburg. This will supplement our already extensive network of resource persons and organizations and provide human resources to take the initiative to scale.
LASTLY - we plan to use the prize money to complete our video about 9 year old Siphelele Ndlovu. He became a celebrated role model when his story about life with an HIV positive mother was published by UNESCO. This video is important to complete our toolkit of materials for Children as partners in health.
Please do view OUR VIDEO at: http://24.89.112.65/cgi-bin/jkrWritePage.cgi?Filename=04262010170940a.htm
to get a direct glimpse of the personalities and story in which Children as partners in health has its origin.
How you make the point that this project has the potential to "serve as an international model for working with children in long-term health care in collaborative and holistic ways."
It seems to me that the potential of this project could be enormous, especially considering the massive costs and huge human impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa (and the effects and interaction with the lives and health of children) and also in the rest of the African continent.
I also appreciate that you emphasize how this project is likely to "..honor children’s rights and capabilities and recognize that health is about mind and spirit as well as the physical body."
I think those aspects of health work are much needed (worldwide) and the more we can start with working with those innovative techniques and ideas at the level of children, the better!
What do you think the first steps would be if you were to win this award?
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