Johannesburg - Rickets, a disorder caused by a lack of vitamin D, among other nutrients, is a condition from which no child in South Africa should be suffering.
Yet, as Joburg Child Welfare (JCW) assistant director Carol Bews revealed, children who mostly live in the inner city’s highly dense areas are suffering from the condition because of inadequate exposure to sunlight.
Bews was speaking in Randburg on Tuesday at the Southern Africa Play Conference, hosted by Cotlands, a non-profit children’s organisation that focuses on early childhood learning.
The conference brought together teachers, childcare workers and government officials from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa to discuss the importance of playing and how it impacts on a child’s development.
Bews said JCW, despite being overloaded with children who are abused, neglected and abandoned, should still be involved with play.
“I think it goes back to the fact that, a number of years ago, we were finding that many of the children who came from the greater Johannesburg area displayed symptoms and were diagnosed as having rickets,” Bews said.
“In this country, none of our children should have rickets. Rickets is a vitamin D deficiency, and vitamin D is something you get from the sun… We get enough sun here.
“We really do have a problem because many of these children were being locked in flats in the area while their parents were looking for work.”
Bews said parents, some of whom were in the country illegally, kept their children locked up indoors to keep them safe because playing outside was a security risk.
Dr Lorayne Excell, co-ordinator of early childhood development at the Wits School of Education, said these conditions hindered not only the children’s physical development, but also stunted their academic development, because playing had a huge impact on brain development.
The Star