news / New NMCF Hospital Initiative

Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital - An Advocacy Project

The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Founder of the hospital, sees the creation of a "dedicated academic tertiary and quaternary paediatric facility serving the children of Southern Africa, irrespective of socio-economic standing" as a way of making an advocacy statement: "children are not little adults".

It is the one place where the legacy of Mr Nelson Mandela and his love of children will exist in the daily life of a child. Every interaction will be an expression of his love and care for children.

Through its training and research, the hospital will build human capacity and will spread the ethos, values and approach of Mr Mandela.

This hospital will not be "more of the same" but will be a turning point on how Africa views its children by providing state-of-the-art specialist care to all children - no child will be turned away for inability to pay.

The Need for a Children's Hospital

Africa as a whole suffers from a dire lack of dedicated paediatric facilities, with only FOUR such facilities on the continent - 2 in Cairo, 1 in Nairobi and 1 in Cape Town. These serve a population of nearly 450 million children and the current levels of paediatric service is overwhelmed by the demand for health services with extremely long waiting times.

This compares dismally to the 23 children's hospitals in Canada, 19 in Australia and 20 in Germany.

Children comprise 43% of the South African population (approx. 20.8 million children). Statistics show that there are 20 deaths per 1000 children born each year. In comparison, the UK, USA & Germany's rate is 8 per 1000 or less.

The predominant cause of death in the 5 to 15 year age group is road traffic accidents. This is coupled with other causes of death, such as drowning and homicide/violence.

HIV Aids is the leading cause of deaths of children under 5 years old. The pandemic has resulted in a high level of public hospital medical admissions relating to various conditions, such as respiratory ailments.

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Based on anticipated demand, the proposed NMCH will comprise a 200 bed, 8 theatre hospital with state-of-the-art diagnostics capabilities with expansion capability to approximately 300 beds. It will offer world class specialist paediatric care, employing approx. 759 staff including specialist doctors and nurses. The hospital will be a modern facility designed as a child friendly environment and a "green" facility.

Location

The hospital will be located in Johannesburg, Gauteng - South Africa's most densely populated province. It is both the economic and transportation hub for the entire SADC region, and therefore the most central location if it is to meet its mandate of serving the region's population.

The selected site is on the Wits Education (JCE) campus in Parktown, adjacent to Wits Medical School and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

The Hospital has been designed by a consortium consisting of Sheppard Robson and John Cooper Architecture of the UK, and GAPP Architects and Ruben Reddy Architects of South Africa.