“A country which fought for its liberation in order to ensure equality has ended up reinforcing inequality,” said Shalil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, who, alongside regional director Deprose Muchena and researcher Louise Carmody, launched both the human rights organisation’s regional office, and its new report concerning maternal mortality in South Africa, on 9 October.
“Amnesty International, best-known for its work against torture and the death penalty, frequently illustrates its campaigns with the faces of the women who are often deprived of their reproductive and sexual rights,” said Shetty. The plight of women and girls, particularly those who are HIV-positive and pregnant, are the focus of the organisation’s most recent report, “Struggle for Maternal Health: Barriers to Antenatal Care in South Africa”.
About 1 500 women suffer childbirth-related deaths annually in South Africa, and 40 percent of those deaths are linked to HIV. Reduction of maternal deaths formed one of South Africa’s Millennium Goals – however, the maternal death rate has risen since 2 000, in part due to the failure to provide early antenatal healthcare. According to Carmody, access to healthcare in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy best ensures the health of mother and child, but most women receive care only in the second half of pregnancy.
Through focus groups and interviews with healthcare workers, pregnant women and new mothers in KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga (selected for poor maternal health performances and high HIV rates) researchers identified three ‘barriers’ to early antenatal care. These were compulsory HIV testing frequently enforced by clinics (and the discrimination that HIV-positive women experienced), the expense of transport in remote rural areas, and the lack of education about the importance of antenatal healthcare.
Amnesty International subsequently issued several recommendations to government, including resolution of poor roads and transport, better sexual education, extended child-support grants, and human rights training for healthcare workers.
“This report is merely trying to bring to the attention of the South African government and the South African people a serious human rights violation…There cannot be an excuse,” emphasised Shetty.
-
-
-
-
