The Health Department has congratulated parents whose babies have been born in 2023.
According to a media statement by the Gauteng Department of Health, 167 births were recorded between 12:00 midnight and 12:00pm on January 1, 2023.
About 509 babies were born in health facilities across the country on New Year’s Day.
The department says that 250 girls and 259 boys were recorded between midnight and midday on the first day of 2023.
The final statistics on the New Year’s babies will be published in the course of this week.
Meanwhile, the Gauteng Health MEC, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko visited South Africa’s biggest hospital – Chris Hani Baragwanath and had some advice for teenage mothers.
“We have some gifts that we are going to give you as mothers. The gifts are for you and your kids; you must enjoy the children and take care of them. Do not drop out of school because you have a child. Because that’s the problem you make to say not that I have a child you decide that I’m not going back to school.” says Ralehoko
Ralehoko also encouraged the mothers to utilise the in-house Home Affairs services to register their babies’ births prior to going home.
She adds, “We are also encouraging them to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first 6 months as breast milk contains all nutritional substances and antibodies babies need to grow and protect themselves from illnesses. They must also ensure that their little ones are immunised at regular ages in order to protect them against diseases such as polio, hepatitis, measles and meningitis.”
