Many children have to travel long distances to reach their nearest health facility. This limits their right of access to health care.
The child mortality indicator focuses on three indices of childhood mortality: the Under-five Mortality Rate, the Infant Mortality Rate, and the Neonatal Mortality Rate. All are valuable indicators of early childhood mortality and the two are strongly related.
Available data suggest that teen pregnancy in South Africa is not increasing. 88% of young women (under 24 years) who give birth are over the age of 18.
Adult HIV prevalence is critical for children, since children born to HIV-positive mothers are at risk of being born HIV positive or contracting HIV after birth, unless adequate and appropriate interventions and resources are available.
South Africa is currently the country with the largest number of people living with HIV in the world. Many children are HIV positive or have become ill and died due to AIDS. The majority of children are infected before and during the birth process and some later through breastfeeding. Children may also become infected through sexual intercourse, including sexual abuse.
This indicator shows the percentage of children younger than one year who are fully immunised.