Research 

In Richter, L., et al. (2012). Diagnostic review of early childhood development. Pretoria: Department of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation & Inter-Departmental Steering Committee on Early Childhood Development 

Filling the access gap for the most vulnerable children is a State obligation. The State must put in place laws, funding, infrastructure and programmes to bridge the gap in access for the most marginalised children. At present, the State has taken the necessary measures to fulfill its obligation to assure access for the most marginalised communities to health care through the National Health Insurance plan (NHI) and school preparation through Grade R. In these services, the State has undertaken to provide the necessary infrastructure and services, and to monitor quality. However, when it comes to access by the most vulnerable children aged 0-4 to early childhood care, early childhood education services, and access to food and nutrition (as opposed to therapeutic treatment of malnutrition), there is no legal obligation on the State to ensure the provision of infrastructure and the required services; nor is there an obligation on the State to fund either the infrastructure or the services. 

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