The Centre for Social Sciences Research (CSSR) and the  Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa  (IDCPPA) at the University of Cape Town invite you to join us for a lunchtime seminar on 25 February 2025 at 12:45pm. The seminar will be presented by Camille Wittesaele.

About the Seminar:

Understanding Declining Well-Care Visit Attendance Among Children of Adolescent Mothers in South Africa: Research-in-Progress.

Children born to adolescent mothers are a rapidly growing demographic in Southern Africa, who face higher risks of infant mortality and morbidity. In 2024, the WHO issued guidance for routine well-care visits to bolster the delivery of preventive and promotive health services for children. Access to well-care visits is under-researched in LMICs.

Evidence on how to promote retention in the well-care visit schedule for children of adolescent mothers, with and without perinatal HIV exposure, remains limited.

This seminar will present findings from my doctoral research, which explores the utilisation of well-child services among children of adolescent mothers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The research consists of three studies: the first estimates age-appropriate vaccination coverage and timeliness, the second examines factors influencing well-care visit attendance and estimates the proportion of children attending each recommended visit up to 18 months, and the third investigates factors associated with retention in the well-care visit schedule using quantitative methods.

The presentation will discuss key findings from all three studies and their implications for practice, programming, and policy.

Speakers

Camille Wittesaele is an adolescent and child health researcher. She holds an MSc in Public Health from the LSHTM and is currently also pursuing PhD research examining child healthcare service access and engagement among children of adolescent mothers in South Africa. Her work has focused on conducting impact-driven maternal, adolescent and child health services research while gaining substantial programmatic and operational experience. Camille has extensive experience working on the design, development and implementation of observational research with the aim of identifying the most effective services for high-risk groups including adolescents and their infant children in HIV AIDS-affected communities.

 25 February 2025
 12:45 - 14:00 SAST
  CSSR Seminar Room, 4.29 Robert Leslie Social Science Building, UCT

Hosted by the Centre for Social Science Research and the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa