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Thoughts from Southern Africa

Department of Paediatric Surgery, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa (Tel: +27-21-658 5199, fax: +27-21-689 1287, e-mail: daveb@redxch.wcape.gov.za)

What are the elements which are truly indispensable to the philosophy and practice of child safety? Research? Academic debate? Funding, perhaps? If our window on the world is framed by a higher education in health related disciplines, the contents of peer review journals, the occasional scientific meeting and an unfailing adherence to Haddon's matrix, then the above mentioned elements will most probably rate highly among our list of priorities. If so, we may be guilty of two assumptions—firstly, that academic health care is immortal, and secondly, that the concept and practice of injury prevention will survive as long as the towers of learning remain intact. In Africa today, both assumptions are groundless.

With utmost respect to the wide spectrum of disciplines that contribute to the promulgation and execution of safety programmes throughout the world, it is more than coincidence that many of the pioneers in this field were (some still . . . [Full text of this article]