What we are reading...

The article discusses an AI-powered WhatsApp bot used in South African schools to identify possible hearing loss among learners. By enabling early screening through accessible mobile technology, the initiative aims to improve diagnosis and intervention, especially in underserved communities where hearing problems often go unnoticed, affecting education, communication, and long-term development.

The WHO Vaccination Information Hub is an evidence‑based resource offering scientific information on how vaccines work, vaccine safety, development, ingredients, and immunization schedules for the public and health professionals. It includes Q&As, explainers, training tools, and links to related vaccination topics and resources.

These are training materials to equip nurses, doctors, and community health workers with the knowledge and practical tools to recognise, manage, and prevent common childhood illnesses. By enhancing skills and awareness, they help healthcare professionals save lives and promote healthier, safer futures for children in their communities.

This is a summary of a Daily Maverick article emphasizing translating South Africa’s national nutrition commitments into community-level actions during a child’s first 1,000 days. It highlights strategies to prevent stunting, improve maternal and child nutrition, and mobilize local stakeholders, linking early interventions to long-term health, development, and national targets for 2030.

This opinion piece advocates for a Maternal Support Grant in South Africa to help pregnant women living in poverty. The grant would improve nutrition, healthcare access, and early child development, reduce public health costs, and support social justice, but government approval has been delayed.

This is a summary of a Daily Maverick opinion piece by De Wet Swanepoel highlighting South Africa’s shortcomings in early hearing detection. It emphasizes that delayed identification of hearing loss in infants contributes to learning gaps, advocates for universal newborn screening, and stresses timely intervention to support language development and educational outcomes.

This article about how global alcohol companies are pivoting from shrinking markets in Europe and North America to pursue growth in African and other emerging markets. It discusses concerns that this strategic shift could increase alcohol availability, influence and related health harms in Africa.

Life Orientation on EduPortal offers structured resources for Life Skills and Life Orientation across South African school phases, from Intermediate (Grades 4–6) to Senior (Grades 7–9) and FET (Grades 10–12), guiding learners through holistic life‑skills development.

The article discusses why many young adults struggle to form social connections, highlighting research by Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki and his colleague Rui Pei. It explains that young people underestimate others’ warmth, spend more time alone, and are affected by polarized online culture, but taking small social risks can build stronger relationships and improve well‑being.

The WHOeyes app (2023) is a free mobile tool developed by the World Health Organization to help people check their near and distance vision using a simple visual acuity test. It aims to identify possible vision impairment early, raise awareness of eye health, and encourage users to seek professional eye care while promoting preventive eye protection practices.

This story shows how Julia’s mother shares a creative skill passed down from her grandmother, allowing Julia to explore, learn, and express herself in her own way. It highlights the value of family traditions and shared experiences in nurturing creativity. By offering supportive guidance and new opportunities, parents can help children discover their abilities, grow confidence, and surprise them over time with their unique talents.

This report highlights global hearing loss as a major public health issue, urges integration of people‑centred ear and hearing care into health systems, and promotes cost‑effective interventions to prevent and address hearing loss across the lifespan.

This is a summary of the South African Speech‑Language‑Hearing Association page on World Hearing Day, an annual global advocacy event held on 3 March to raise awareness about preventing hearing loss and promoting ear and hearing care. The SASLHA page shares free downloadable awareness posters in multiple South African languages aimed at supporting communities and schools to protect children’s hearing and learning, aligned with the 2026 World Hearing Day theme “From communities to classrooms: hearing care for every child” as championed by the World Health Organization.

HOPE‑Hear provides resources to support children’s hearing and ear health, including newborn hearing screening, identifying hearing loss, ear care, safe listening, and tips for hearing aid users. These downloadable guides help parents and caregivers promote healthy hearing and early language development in children.

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), with the Department of Social Development, has launched the Ke Moja WhatsApp chat platform to support youth struggling with substance abuse. It offers free, easily accessible live chat counselling via WhatsApp, aiming to reach more young people who prefer messaging and to guide them toward help and resources.

The Stories for Joy series on the ECD Info Hub offers open-licensed South African storybooks for children from birth to five, designed to build emergent language, literacy, creativity and thinking skills. These locally developed, age-appropriate books support play-based reading and learning and can be freely printed and used in early learning and home settings.

BBC Tiny Happy People is a free online resource from BBC Education (now part of CBeebies Parenting) that helps parents and caregivers support children’s early speech, language, and communication development from pregnancy through age 4. It offers fun activities, expert tips, videos, and evidence‑based advice to make everyday moments language‑rich and build strong early skills

The Ethnikids website promotes an online children’s bookstore specialising in diverse, inclusive books and stationery featuring characters of colour and materials in various South African languages. Its mission is to ignite a love of reading and representation for young readers, offering selections by language, age group, and cultural relevance.

A new neuroimaging study showing how a preschoolers’ brain activates differently during live book reading versus screen‑based storytelling, with book reading engaging social and language‑related brain regions more strongly than screen time, highlighting potential cognitive and developmental benefits of shared reading.

The article argues that expanding early access to books and reading opportunities is crucial to addressing South Africa’s literacy crisis, improving education outcomes and unlocking future potential. Enhancing book access through libraries, early reading programs and community initiatives can help transform young lives and the country’s future.

This page reviews global research showing that unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) direct financial payments with no requirements on how they’re spent raise incomes, improve food security and mental well-being, and often lead to greater spending on essentials. Evidence from randomized studies finds that recipients invest, maintain employment, and don’t waste funds on harmful goods, with some effects lasting years and benefiting local economies too.

A new pilot study from Pakistan demonstrated that distributing multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) through its existing public health system is feasible and can effectively reach pregnant women. Led by the Junaid Family Foundation and Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, the initiative integrated MMS into routine antenatal care (ANC) by utilizing Lady Health Workers (LHWs) and public facilities.

The Western Cape Government launched Khulisa Care, a pilot program to combat child stunting and support maternal nutrition. It provides protein-rich food vouchers, healthcare, and community health worker support to underweight pregnant women and mothers of low-birth-weight babies, with partners including Grow Great, DG Murray Trust, Shoprite, Mireille Wenger, and Alan Winde

The article highlights cost‑effective protein choices starting from around R5, like Shoprite’s budget liver burgers, lentils, beans, chicken hearts, liver, and tinned fish. Nutritionists recommend bulk buying and using diverse protein sources to balance cost with nutrition and support overall health.

In an ENCA interview, DGMT’s Kentse Radebe highlighted growing calls for the South African government to fast-track the Maternity Support Grant, providing vital support to vulnerable pregnant women amid rising child poverty and malnutrition, with nearly 70% of children living below the poverty line.

DGMT’s Deputy CEO, Kentse Radebe, urged the South African government on Newzroom Afrika to support and fast‑track a Maternal Support Grant to provide pregnant women with vital income during pregnancy, improve nutrition and birth outcomes, and reduce stunting and poverty. Advocates stress strong evidence and urgency for policy approval

During an ENCA interview, DGMT Deputy CEO Kentse Radebe emphasized that increasing shoplifting rates signal widespread poverty and hardship, particularly among families with infants. Referencing a Daily Maverick article, she explained how many parents face challenges in providing for basic household needs.

DGMT’s Nutrition Lead, Liezel Engelbrecht, discusses on Bhekisisa Health Beat how implementing a maternity support grant from mid‑pregnancy to three months postpartum could help reduce low birth weight, prevent stunting in infants, and yield substantial healthcare savings.

This DGMT interview highlights that millions of informal and self‑employed workers in South Africa are currently ineligible for maternity and parental benefits under labour laws, leaving pregnant women without income support. Advocates call for legal reforms and a Maternal Support Grant to fill this protection gap

This broadcast explains why a Maternal Support Grant (MSG) is essential to help prevent child stunting in South Africa. It highlights how providing monthly cash support to pregnant women improves maternal nutrition, reduces low birth weight and stunting, and is cost‑effective, yet the policy still awaits government approval.