Millennial trends in inpatient paediatric care at New Somerset Hospital Cape Town

Abstract

The first decade of this millennium witnessed considerable changes and challenges in child health in South Africa. Census figures have shown major migration towards urban centres such as Cape Town. Child mortality rates were very high and not improving. The prevalence rates for HIV infection peaked, and efforts to prevent mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) of HIV were introduced and then scaled up. New techniques of neonatal care such as nasal continuous positive airway pressure ventilation for small preterm babies with immature lungs were introduced.