Chair, focused engagement with the executive and civil society is going to be important for MPs in order for South Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs.
A total of 58 000 infants under the age of five died in South Africa last year, according to the United Nations report released last week. The 2011 report shows South Africa, along with several other countries in Africa, to be making little or no progress in curbing infant mortality, with the average annual rate of reduction being less than 1% over the past 10 years.
This contrasts with international rates, which dropped by more than one third. Madagascar, Malawi and Tanzania, however, are among six of the 14 best-performing countries in the world, with under-five mortality reduced by over 50% in the past 20 years. Neonatal mortality rates have remained the same in South Africa. While HIV/Aids is largely responsible, research shows that educating mothers in ways of improving home hygiene could save the lives of many.
Behavioural attitudes in men are also thought to be key. A research paper by the South African Institute of Race Relations shows widowed men to be less likely to care for their children than widows. This directly impacts on the survival of young children, who are four times more likely to die the year following a mother's death than if the father alone had died. Siblings who are also less likely to be enrolled in school will complete fewer years of education and have less money spent on their education than children whose widowed mothers are still alive.
Behavioural changes in men are said to have impacted significantly on Zimbabwe's HIV statistics, which have almost halved in the past several years. This is attributed to a unique combination of men having less disposable income to maintain sexual relations outside marriage, widespread education, a fear of exposure to Aids deaths and the heeding of messages promoting faithful marriage. The ACDP calls on all men in South Africa to take up the challenge and prove the current research wrong.
As I said, the role of Parliament includes engagement with the executive and civil society ... [Time expired.]