Reducing maternal and infant mortality and improving the health of mothers and babies are important goals of the public health system. To achieve them, health care practitioners and managers need accurate, timely and comprehensive information. CRADLE is one element of the extensive system that Ce-I is building to supply this, collecting data on mothers and babies during pregnancy, labour and delivery and early infancy. The information is used for statistical and research purposes, and it enables officials to track problems and intervene where necessary.

CRADLE has been piloted in Gugulethu, where doctors and nursing staff have greeted it with enthusiasm because it enables quicker administration and shorter queues. It is linked with the Health Information System, which provides consolidated electronic health records for patients across the provincial health system. CRADLE will in future be rolled out to all provincial hospitals.

NETWORKING COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRES

Community health centres (CHCs) are an important component of the primary health care system, but are often isolated. Partly because of their important role in implementing and monitoring anti-retroviral treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS, the CHCs are now being networked and linked with other health care systems to provide accurate information for health workers . By the end of March 2005, 28 out of 33 CHCs in the Western Cape were networked. In future, the network could enable additional services like improved administration systems and wireless outreach programmes.