Responsive care during the first 1,000 days of life is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone to physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. Caregivers need information and support services to engage in responsive care to their children, but responsive care is not yet a recognised or standardised element in national maternal and child health policies.
We are supporting the National Department of Health to embed responsive caregiving into South Africa’s community health worker (CHW) programme as a strategic approach to improving maternal and child health outcomes. When CHWs are equipped to support responsive caregiver-child interactions, critical developmental needs during the first 1,000 days can be addressed. We are exploring how existing mass communication campaigns and tools, such as the national Side-by-Side campaign, can be used to promote responsive interactions, emotional connection, and early stimulation.
Ilifa uses promising practices and learnings from the Grow Great Champions programme, which trains, equips, and supports over 3,480 CHWs across six provinces. By early 2026, the Grow Great Champions Programme has monitored the growth of more than 260,000 children under the age of two and supported nearly 23,000 pregnant women. Typical interventions include growth monitoring, breastfeeding promotion and support, nutrition assessment and identification and response to early developmental risks, as well as linking to other maternal and child health and development services.