Aiming to improve children’s outcomes

As a 15-year-old in Lesotho, I was first exposed to the issue of child health in my high school Domestic Science class. The course material largely focused on nutrition, but as we progressed, we had a chance to visit the local hospital where the pediatrician explained the situation of malnourished children in the ward, which was the consequences of inadequate or improper child weaning and feeding practices.

It was sad to learn, all these years later, that mothers, especially those from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds, often wean children early and abruptly, often because of poor understanding of proper weaning methods in the communities they come from.

In 1988 as a Statistician in the Lesotho Ministry of Health, I was once again exposed to maternal and child health issues and factors that contribute to poor outcomes. Sadly, most of these could be prevented with interventions such as exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, vaccination, education for mothers on appropriate feeding practices and the provision of clean water and adequate sanitation for households.

As a Statistician in the Population & Social Statistics cluster at Statistics South Africa, where I work currently, our work revolves around the generation of evidence to monitor trends in health and social development. Child health continues to be my passion and I’m keen to support efforts such as those implemented by UNICEF, which aim to improve children’s health outcomes.

Join Ramadimetja Matji in securing better outcomes for children.