Getting doctors and nurses back on the road to health

Keeping an accurate record of a young child's treatment is critical to their overall health. That's why South Africans have the Road to Health. The book – issued at birth – provides a means for health workers to record and monitor a child's growth, development and clinical care including immunisations, Vitamin A supplementation, deworming, PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV), TB and HIV status, and any illness, treatment and hospital admissions. It also contains essential health promotion messages.

It's a powerful tool for promoting young children's optimal development, empowering parents and families, and enhancing comprehensive care and continuity of care. But it is rarely put to optimum use. Failures to keep an accurate record of treatment or to respond to persistent growth faltering can have fatal consequences.

In response to these challenges, the Advocacy Committee of the School of Child and Adolescent Health has initiated a pledge campaign to put doctors, nurses and children back on the road to health, formally launched at Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital at the Department of Paediatrics Clinical Meeting on Wednesday 15 October 2014.

The two-pronged campaign targets both health workers and children's caregivers. It includes a poster encouraging caregivers to ask about the Road to Health book, and a pledge by doctors and nurses to use the Road to Health book effectively.

Health workers should record the child's treatment and progress every time the child visits a clinic, doctor's rooms, or hospital. They should also use the Road to Health book to help caregivers make informed decisions so that they are better able to support their child's health and development.

In addition, the book is designed to enhance continuity of care, but it can only facilitate effective communication between clinicians if clinic, general practitioner, hospital and other visits are well documented.

Download the pledge, the poster and the Road to Health button.