South Africa

Safe Kids South Africa/Childsafe is a campaign of the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa and became a member of Safe Kids Worldwide in 2007.

Childsafe promotes optimal health and development of all children in South Africa and aims to reduce intentional and unintentional injuries of all severity through research, education, environmental change and recommendations for legislation. To achieve this, Childsafe works in cooperation with government, industry, non-governmental and community-based organizations, community groups and individuals.

Childsafe believes that every child has a right to grow and flourish in a safe environment without the threat of being hurt. Thousands of children in South Africa under the age of 18 die due to road accidents, drowning, burns, poisoning, falls, choking and suffocation.

Highlights

Safer Candle Project Continues to be a Success

Candles are a source of light when frequent power outages in South African homes occur. However, there have been a number of fires reported that were started by a fallen candle, and led to very preventable deaths, suffering and financial loss.

The Safer Candle project was developed after supporting research showed that a significant amount of children were injured or killed due to burn injuries resulting from unsafe candles in households. A simple, preventative measure was developed to prevent this: a candle in a jar with dry sand.

Childsafe/Safe Kids South Africa advises that a candle is cut in half and placed in a recycled large glass jar one third filled with dry sand. The sand will act as a fire extinguisher if the jar containing a lighted candle is knocked over. The sand also holds the candle upright, and the reflective surfaces of the glass jar increase the efficiency of the candlelight. The top of the candle must be lower than the top of the jar – the flame should not be exposed.

Since 2008, demonstrations of the Safer Candle has been held in the crowded waiting areas of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital’s (RXH’s) Out Patient Department to increase awareness about fire and burn prevention. In 2010-2011 alone, 1,200 Safe Candle jar units and 300 extra educational leaflets were distributed. This concept and idea continues to be well-received within the communities for which educational sessions have been held and has been recommended by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Summer School Holiday Program

During the first week of July, Childsafe South Africa took part in a June/July School Holiday Program. This program was organized by the Communicare Welfare Agency and was in collaboration with Fire and Rescue Services, Eskom (national electricity/power suppliers), Paraffin Safety Association and Phoenix Burns Project. The program’s objectives were mainly based on the theme “Children Have the Right to a Safe Environment”.  The program raised awareness and educated 80 children from Bloekombos and Wallacedene, which are informal settlements in Kraaifontein. Different issues relevant to safe environments were shared in fun ways, including:

• What is a safe environment?
• Road safety
• Electricity dangers
• How to stop a fire