The UNESCO Chair Team welcomed Prof Catherine Draper for a scientific exchange
Within the framework of the Swiss-South African cooperation programme, Prof Catherine Draper from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, presented her research. She reported on her work to promote 'early childhood health' and 'development in vulnerable situations'
A scientific exchange has taken place with Dr Catherine Draper. She is an associate professor in the SAMRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She has a background in Psychology and the social sciences, and obtained her PhD in Public Health in 2005 from the University of Cape Town. Dr Draper’s research interests include the development and evaluation of community-based health promotion interventions, and is particularly interested in early childhood health and development.
She led the initiative to develop South African 24-hour movement guidelines for the early years, and was a member of the World Health Organization Guideline Development Group for guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep in children under 5 years of age, and an international observer for the Under 5’s Expert Working Group for the UK physical activity guidelines. Dr Draper is currently leading studies on early learning, social emotional development and mental health in young children in vulnerable settings in South Africa, and also works on the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) with young women in Soweto, Johannesburg. HeLTI aims to optimise young women’s physical and mental health, intervening from preconception through to early childhood, in order to establish healthier trajectories for themselves and future offspring. Prof Draper is now travelling on to other partners as part of the exchange programme.