Health authorities' support for crèches

A study was undertaken to determine the extent of crèche services in rural areas of southern Africa, the level of support from the health authorities and their understanding of the function of and legislation pertaining to crèches in the light of the explosive expansion of preschool child-care services in both rural and urban areas. One hundred hospitals, serving mostly rural health wards, were surveyed using a postal questionnaire and the response rate was 85%. Sixty hospitals reported that crèches were in existence in their health wards and 45 claimed to be providing health care on a regular basis. Forty-one respondents were completely unaware of legislation regulating crèche services and most of the remaining 19 misquoted the legislation. Most respondents perceived the role of the crèche as providing a place of safety for the children of working parents but only 21 identified education as an important crèche function. It is concluded that there is a lack of awareness of the role of crèches in rural areas and also inadequate support for crèche services.