Stats SA has released an in-depth report on persons with disabilities. The report, written using Census 2011 data, is the first in a series of in-depth analyses of various Census 2011 variables, suc
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h as ageing and education.
The report provides statistical evidence relating to the prevalence of disability and characteristics of persons with disabilities at both individual and household levels. Two methods were used to profile disability prevalence and patterns based on the six functional domains, namely seeing, hearing, communication, remembering/concentrating, walking and self-care. These two methods were:
- the level/degree of difficulty in a specific functional domain and;
- the disability index.
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Children with disabilities in South Africa: The hidden reality is part of a multiple-country study conducted by ACPF. The study seeks to analyse ho
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w cultural, social, physical and other societal barriers prevent children with disabilities from enjoying their constitutional rights to equality, freedom and human dignity. It also seeks to establish opportunities and practices that could be used to address these barriers to enhance disabled children’s participation in society.
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This report from Human Rights Watch found that South Africa has failed to guarantee the right to education for many
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of the country’s children and young adults due to widespread discrimination against children with disabilities in enrollment decisions. Human Rights Watch research in five out of South Africa’s nine provinces showed that children with disabilities face discriminatory physical and attitudinal barriers, often beginning early in children’s lives when government officials classify them according to their disabilities. Human Rights Watch August 2015
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Democratic dispensation in 1994 created a political and social platform that reshaped life in South Africa. There was a surge in common belief that the inequity and wrong
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of Apartheid should and could be rectified. Equity of access to water and sanitation were obvious targets for improvement. In 1994, an estimated 14–15 million South Africans were without access to an improved water supply, while close to 21 million - more than half of the population at that time - did not have access to improved sanitation facilities. These problems were most severe in poorer rural areas. The water and sanitation sector became unified by the vision of universal access for all South Africans. This case study documents the progression of the sector between 1994 and 2016, and analyzes the impact of local systems created in South Africa to respond to the water and sanitation challenge.
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HRH Strategy for the Health Sector: 2012/13 – 2016/17
Cervical cancer, along with maternal deaths, has been identified as a national priority in
South Africa as well as other Sub-Saharan African countries. Cervical cancer is the
second most common ca
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ncer among women in South Africa, after breast cancer. Due
to limited access to prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, cervical cancer is often
fatal.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an important public health concern shared by developed and developing countries. In developing countries the burden of infectious diseases is greater and exacerbated by limited access to, and availability and afford
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ability of, antimicrobials required to treat infections caused by AMR organisms. With drugs not listed on the essential drugs list (EDL), problems of increased morbidity, costs of extended hospitalisation and mortality are extremely serious. The problem of susceptibility to and spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) infectious agents is fuelled by factors such as limited access to clean water and sanitation to ensure personal hygiene, malnutrition, and the HIV/TB epidemic.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2010 projects that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) will be responsible for over 44 million deaths during the next decade, representing an increase of about 15% sinc
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e 2010. Most of these deaths will occur in the WHO regions of Africa, South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean. In the African Region alone, NCDs will cause around 3.9 million deaths by 2020.
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