Mother and child health
The context South Africa is losing many mothers, babies and young children unnecessarily. Child mortality has increased since 1990, despite a national policy of free primary healthcare for pregnant women and children under the age of five. Every year, 75,000 children do not make it to their fifth birthday. A significant number of women and children die during childbirth and 40 per cent of stillbirths happen during labour. Almost half of all newborn babies who die, do so during the first 24 hours of birth, and 75 per cent die in their first week of life. Malnutrition is high and contributes to 64 per cent of all deaths in children under the age of five. This happens despite reports that show that most women in South Africa deliver in a health facility with a skilled attendant. These needless child and maternal deaths also take place in a country that spends more on healthcare than any other country in Southern Africa. The alarming death statistics point to serious problems: the country’s maternity wards and neonatal care units are not providing the quality of care needed to ensure the survival of mothers and their babies, and communities are not being prepared and supported to make the right choices for mothers and babies. What UNICEF is doing For UNICEF, saving the lives of mothers, babies and young children means working on two fronts: In health clinics and hospitals: A partnership between UNICEF and the Department of Health is helping to improve the quality of services in maternity and neonatal care units. In communities: UNICEF supports the delivery of high impact interventions in communities. Community health workers are used to promote care for mothers and children from pregnancy through to delivery and early childhood; and within a health system continuum from health facilities to communities and households.
What has been achieved? In 2006, UNICEF teamed up with the National Department of Health, the Medical Research Council and the Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Research Unit, University of Pretoria, to pilot a model of improving basic antenatal care quality. This involved training nurses and doctors, providing equipment and working with communities. The initiative proved to save lives: the death rate of newborn babies was reduced by 10 per cent. This model is now the basis of the quality improvement programme, which will be implemented in 18 districts with the highest mother and baby death rates. The government, with the help of UNICEF’s technical expertise, spearheaded the community-based maternal, neonatal and child healthcare programme nationally. Piloting started in one district, and there are plans to scale this up to several other provinces. UNICEF provides focused support to the programme in the poorest provinces – Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. UNICEF has also assisted the government in adopting and updating child health programming to ensure infants and children do not die from AIDS. Baby-friendly health facilities
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Did you know? In South Africa, 9 out of 10 women give birth in health facilities, yet newborn and maternal deaths remain unacceptably high. What kills young children in South Africa? HIV and AIDS 35% Neonatal causes 30% Diarrhoea 11% Pneumonia 6% Fast Facts: The fight against Polio in Africa
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