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Educare Programme: Brooklyn Chest Hospital

Children Lost to the Hospital Ward

South Africa has one of the highest burdens of paediatric tuberculosis (TB) globally. In 2024, an estimated 249,000 people developed TB, with 50,392 cases recorded in the Western Cape between August 2023 and August 2024. Children are significantly affected. Brooklyn Chest Hospital is the province’s main referral hospital for children with severe and complex TB. A study of 263 children admitted to the hospital found that most were very young with an average age of just under three years.

Nearly half were being treated for drug-resistant TB, about a third for TB meningitis (a serious infection affecting the brain), and the rest for other severe forms of TB.

Those with TB meningitis may stay for up to six months, while children with multidrug-resistant TB may remain in care for one to two years. These extended hospitalisations often separate children from their families due to distance and cost, and occur during early childhood, a critical period for early childhood development.

A childhood preserved through tuberculosis treatment

TB HIV Care has run an Educare service at Brooklyn Chest Hospital for several years, employing dedicated Educare teachers to bring age-appropriate physical, cognitive, and emotional stimulation directly to hospitalised children.

The programme has already transformed what would otherwise be empty cots into a space of learning, play and dignity. The Educare programme is built around six inter-related components that together deliver holistic early childhood development inside the clinical setting.

Every component is evidence-based and aligned with the Department of Social Development’s ECD Policy (2015) and the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy.

Cognitive Stimulation

Age-appropriate learning activities, books, puzzles and language development matched to each child’s developmental stage.

Physical Development

Structured movement and gross- and fine-motor play to counter the immobility of long hospital stays.

Psychosocial Support

Emotional regulation, attachment and family liaison work, including counselling for parents of children with TB meningitis.

Nutrition & Wellness

Supplemental feeding and growth monitoring delivered alongside the hospital dietitian to support recovery.

Treatment Adherence

Routines integrated with TB care that lower stress, reduce the need for sedation, and improve adherence to long treatment regimens.

School Readiness

Pre-literacy, pre-numeracy and routines that prepare children for re-entry into community-based ECD or formal schooling at discharge.

Educare delivers public health benefits

This programme is both a public-health and social welfare intervention. By supporting children through their TB treatment in an environment that preserves their development, the Educare programme delivers measurable benefits to the public healthcare system, to the Department of Social Development’s early childhood development agenda, and to the Department of Basic Education’s school-readiness outcomes.

How the Educare programme delivers it

Structured routines, nutritional support, and emotional regulation improve treatment adherence. Poor adherence is a leading driver of drug-resistant TB, which costs the public system up to 25 times more per patient to treat than drug-susceptible TB.

How the Educare programme delivers it

International evidence shows structured play interventions reduce hospitalisation duration. Every bed-day saved at a specialised TB hospital frees capacity for new admissions and reduces public expenditure.

How the Educare programme delivers it

Calmer, emotionally regulated children require less sedation for routine procedures (blood draws, lumbar punctures, chest X-rays), reducing pharmaceutical costs and procedural complications.

How the Educare programme delivers it

Without intervention, developmental regression during a long hospitalisation generates downstream costs for special-needs education, remedial therapy, and lost economic productivity. Early prevention is orders of magnitude cheaper than later remediation.

How the Educare programme delivers it

Children and families leave Brooklyn Chest Hospital connected to community-based TB HIV Care services (social workers, IPV screening, psychosocial support, TB contact tracing), closing the loop between inpatient and community care.

How the Educare programme delivers it

The programme offers counselling and family reunification support, identified in the 2024/2025 Annual Report as a core service gap in the Western Cape TB-affected population.

B-BBEE recognition

TB HIV Care is a verified Level 2 B-BBEE Contributor. Contributions qualify for full Socio-Economic Development recognition under Code Series 500, and procurement recognition as a >51% black-owned entity.

Section 18A tax deduction.

TB HIV Care is a registered Public Benefit Organisation. Contributions qualify for Section 18A tax certificates, providing donors with a deductible contribution under the Income Tax Act.

SDG and ESG reporting

The programme maps directly to SDGs 3, 4, 5 and 10, and supports integrated reporting under ESG and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, with pre-populated reporting templates supplied by TB HIV Care’s M&E team.

Branding and visibility

Depending on partnership level, corporate partners may be recognised on-site at the upgraded Educare facility, in TB HIV Care’s Annual Report, press releases, website, and at sector events.

Employee engagement opportunities

Depending on partnership level, corporate partners may be recognised on-site at the upgraded Educare facility, in TB HIV Care’s Annual Report, press releases, website, and at sector events.

Access to a trusted delivery

Partners gain access to a delivery infrastructure that includes over 2000 staff, nine provinces of operational footprint, formal Memorandums of Understanding with Government, and a track record of unqualified audits and on-time donor reporting.

Cementing an impactful partnership

Request the full Educare Corporate Funding Proposal, including budget detail, monitoring framework, and a draft Memorandum of Agreement, and we’ll arrange a conversation with our leadership team within five working days.

Help us preserve the childhood of a child while undergoing TB treatment. Your personal gift will make a difference.

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