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Unwanted newborn infants and even older babies are found daily in South Africa in hospitals, police stations and in some cases in rubbish dumps/-bins. These babies, although alive in most instances, are sometimes very ill and traumatized, requiring urgent medical attention, high care and a loving and stress-free environment for recovery.
Their abandonment is related to a number of reasons, among others, teenage pregnancies, rape, HIV, prostitution, unemployment, extreme poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, unsuccessful abortions etc.
According to an article in ‘The Star’ of 23 February 2003, two thirds of the babies abandoned in South Africa are being dumped in Gauteng (the geographic area of Baby Moses). There has been an alarming increase in the number of babies orphaned this way.
In 2001 there were 358 reported cases of babies abandoned in Gauteng. An increase of almost 50% in 2 years had the figure at more than 500 in Gauteng hospitals alone;
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(this is 66% of the national figure).
1st World countries like the USA, UK and Germany estimate this incidence of abandonment at around 100 babies p.a.
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