Red Cross Hospital War Memorial Children's Hospital
Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital is South Africa's only dedicated child health institution and offers a comprehensive range of specialist paediatric services to children. It is a centre of excellence for the training of all categories of child health professionals.
It is the largestchildren’s hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides all levels of multidisciplinary care at an international level whilst taking into account the limitations of being located in a resource poor country.
Departments in which placements are offered:
General Paediatric Medicine
Paediatric Surgery
Paediatric Trauma
Paediatric Neurology
Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery
Paediatric Cardiology
The Paediatric Neurology Department
o The neurology service sees rare and complex diseases (epilepsy, neurometabolic, neurodegenerative, neuromuscular disorders).
o The vision and mission of the neurology service is directed specifically towards the impact from diseases of poverty, which dominate the service load, i.e.
tuberculosis
human immunodeficiency virus type 1
post-streptococcal sequelae.
o The neurology service is directed towards building and expanding capacity to manage both complex disorders and the neglected diseases of poverty from vulnerable populations.
o Dedicated clinics have established large cohorts of children from the Sub-Saharan African population
neuromuscular disease n=300
epilepsy n=1600
neurocutaneous disorders n=100.
o Ongoing support of the infectious diseases service has resulted epidemiological data relating to the neurological impact of HIV-1 in childhood before and once commencing antiretroviral therapy.
o The service operates in the region of 80 clinics a month, with almost 4000 clinic visits a year
o There are 6 dedicated paediatric neurology beds but many more patients are managed on the “general wards” on a referral / advisory basis.
o Outreach service operates with regional specialist visits for both training and case assessment.
o The service assists with establishing government guidelines aimed towards optimal care in a resource poor setting.
The Neurophysiology Department
o The only centre dedicated to children in sub-Saharan Africa.
o The centre trains clinical neurophysiology technologists
o Also exposes practitioners from throughout the country who require insight into neurophysiology techniques, procedures and interpretation.
o Over 2000 studies performed a year
o It is the only government centre equipped to perform video EEG telemetry on children and as such screen them for epilepsy surgery
Southern African Training Centre
o Currently one of the few centres in South Africa with a dedicated paediatric neurology training post.
o The post follows international training guidelines.
o To date 11 trainees fully completed training (10 now in government consultant posts) and four more complete between 2017 and 2018.
o The team regard training as an essential way to improve care to children with neurological conditions – we are keen to set up links with other centres throughout Africa and to offer training experiences either through attachments to our department or through invited training workshops.