KwaZulu-Natal Children's Hospital Trust

The KwaZulu-Natal Children’s Hospital (formerly known as the Addington Children’s Hospital) was built in 1928 and was the first hospital for children on the African continent. In 1984, at the peak of the huge combined internal and international struggle against Apartheid, the wards of the Hospital were closed by the Apartheid government as the hospital treated children of all races. The hospital remained closed for an astounding 28 years. Following the hospital closure, the hospital’s seven buildings fell into deep disrepair. Windows were shattered, roofs collapsed, pigeons nested in gutters, and squatters moved in for shelter.

With Durban and the surrounding province of KwaZulu-Natal extremely hard hit by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, local leaders embarked on a restoration and rebuild process of the old Children’s Hospital (now renamed the KZN Children’s Hospital). The KZN Children’s Hospital, once completely re-established, will be part of the creation of a provincial ‘first’ Health Precinct and proposed inner city regeneration project that will address adult and child health and welfare issues, poverty and urban renewal in Durban’s inner city.