Editorial
South Africa's infant mortality - tell tale of severe inequality.
    by Azad Essa

 
As India's growth approaches the golden horse casino level of 10% per annum, 80% of its population earns less than the price of a Big Mac Burger per year ($2). The obvious poverty is manifested in a myriad of inequalities, including malnutrition, poor access to health and educative services, but is most emphatically illustrated through the rate of infant mortality in the country. India suffered an estimated 84 deaths per 1000 in 1990. While India remains in the iron grasp of structural poverty, infant mortality has improved drastically to an estimated 43 deaths per 1000 in 2005.

In short, India is a still a poor country.

In comparison, infant mortality in China by 1990 was 38 deaths per 1000, and, especially when one takes into consideration China's population dynamic, this has improved significantly to 22 deaths per 1000 in 2005. However, consider that in South Africa, with a population that wouldn't even add up to Chairman Mao's cooking staff, we have an estimated 55-59 deaths per 1000. This figure was close to 45 deaths per 1000 in 1990.

 
This week, a frail looking Manto Tshabalala-Msimang visited hospitals and launched three comprehensive committees to investigate how infant mortality may be reduced in South Africa.

 
And clearly it is about time.

 
It is not as if the new administration has not taken the issue of infant mortality seriously. To its credit, South Africa was declared polio free in 2006, overall immunization coverage is said to have improved by 83%, and 100% of children in clinics between 6-11 months receive Vitamin A supplements. Even with our ambiguous HIV/AIDS policies, 90% of health clinics are said to be equipped with the infrastructure to prevent mother to child transmission (PMCTC) of HIV.  Yet, infant mortality statistics refuse to decrease.

Obviously, something is out there, claiming the lives of our infants.

This is simply appalling if we take into consideration that with South Africa's relatively small population, accessible economic resources and geographic conditions that auger well on the richter scale,  we are not faced with outlandishly difficult circumstances in which to manage and alleviate scenario's of infant mortality that have on average, improved across the globe over the past three decades. It is also a humbling reminder that while South Africa may be the face of a resurgent 'Africa' and the global South - the mismanagement of our resources and energy, the ensuing political buffoonery, including the current, very peculiar removal of the scorpions, and indeed our continued existence amidst severe unequal economic circumstance, make us little different to our cousins in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

Indeed it seems that a bulging appetite for freedom, resulting in rapidly rabid indigestion is quite contagious.

Infant mortality is a key indicator of a country's advancement or lack thereof. Perinatal mortality and infant mortality statistics further suggest healthy correlations with the level of parental education and income as well as poverty status. No country may describe itself as anything but poor if it cannot stem the flow of infant mortality. Even our Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang admits that successful maternal and health care are crucial in measuring the success of a health system.

In short, no country may describe itself as anything but poor if it cannot stem the flow of infant mortality.

While we laud Manto for finally leaving the brewery, visiting a ward and launching these committees - in an attempt to empathically alleviate infant mortalities in South Africa, we are hopeful that this does not turn into a marketing strategy for indigenous crops and herbal warfare. If one considers that Zimbabwe - with all its food and energy shortages and generally pitiful socio-economic condition has an estimated infant mortality rate of 81 deaths per 1000, one can't help but wonder how desperate the desperate must be in our own country, if our statistic reads 59 deaths per 1000. These committees have before them an incredibly serious mission made of mammoth tasks and requiring careful introspection. What this means is that they cannot afford to be embroiled in rhetoric or political opportunism.

Azad Essa is a researcher based at the Industrial Organizational & Labour Studies Research Unit (IOLS-Research), UKZN.