Women and health in South Africa – here are things you might have wondered about, but never knew who to ask for an answer.
The following facts are extracts from a National Household Survey of Health Inequalities in South Africa written by Joan de Castro and Ros Hirschowitz. The sample of 2653 female respondents was proportionally representative of the 11504000 women in South Africa between the ages of 16 and 64.
Pregnancy and ante-natal care
• 81 percent of the women had been pregnant at least once in their lives.
• 80 percent had given birth at least once.
• 70 percent of white women had been pregnant at least once in their lives.
• 89 percent of all pregnant women had received ante-natal care.
• 84 percent of African women living on white-owned farms received ante-natal care.
• One in three of those who received no schooling, failed to go for ante-natal care.
• 14 percent of women are considered to live below the minimum living level (the bread line) and one in every seven of those failed to go for ante-natal care, as opposed to one in twenty of those living above it.
• All respondents with post-school training went for ante-natal care.
• Disabled and chronically ill Africans had less access to ante-natal care than the average – one in every six women from this category did not go for ante-natal care.
Childbirth
• 98 percent of white women and 96 percent of Indian women gave birth in hospitals or clinics.
• A quarter of Africans and 16 percent of Coloureds gave birth in their homes.
• 58 percent of those with no education gave birth in their homes.
• Only 2 percent of those with post-school qualifications chose to give birth at home.
• Home births are unusual in the Western Cape – only four percent as opposed to 34 percent in Mpumalanga.
• 22 percent of African women do not have a health professional present at the birth.
Deaths during pregnancy and Childbirth
• Those living in informal settlements in urban areas were more likely to report a death in the family in the past year during a pregnancy – seven percent as opposed to 3 percent in formal housing in metropolitan areas.
Three in every 100 Africans had a family member who had died in pregnancy or childbirth compared to fewer than one in every 100 whites


Source: Health24
Author: Susan Erasmus

Oh no.
Here comes the storm.
I can feel it coming....
cant you hear the anti apartheid slogans warming up already?

What are you trying to show by the way Treshi? Education means life or what?
Because those stats are pretty hard hitting, and Im pretty sure they arent far wrong.

Its actually sad that people cant even get basic health care...

And it has nothing todo with being black or white, its got todo with what you can afford, and the people who are not going cant afford it. Its just statistically (and i dont want to start a fight), the black people since they are the worst off statistically.

Yeah, I agree with that completely, but you still get some fools who shout - SI TEH RACISTZ0RS!!

The article was meant to highlight how access to basic medical services, in the case of pregnant women, varies from race to race.. not because of their race, but mostly due to their circumstances, with race playing a minor role...

Unfortunately in this country, certain people do not live close to ammenties and in the case of pregnancy where being able to get to the hospital in time is important, the proximity of pregnant women in relation to a hospital or clinic is important... A large number of people of colour, blacks specifically, live in townships and in areas that are far from hospitals, hence the high percentage of births at home.

The statistics on education, pregnancy and childbirth is meant to highlight not that lack of education means more childbirths at home, but rather that financial resources, that can provide adequate transport to and care in these hospitals, are considerably depleted, hence more childbirths at home. Depleted since these people do not have the education which is the basis for qualifiying for employment.

And lastly, since the hospitals in certain areas are so removed or far away from residential areas, more complications are likely to arise during childbirth in the absence of a trained medical professional. Hence more deaths in informal settlements. In addition, conditions in these informal settlements are not as comfortable and as good as in the metropolitan areas, where i might add, hospitals and clinics are aplenty.

Without proper education and with lack of access or easy access to medical facilities, the pregnant women suffers. These statistics shows that an increase in the amount of hospitals and clinics in certain areas should be facilitated for by our government, along with the right to access education by not just women, but everyone in South Africa. The so called government of the people, should actually sit up and look and listen to the very people they claim to represent.

IMHO unfortunately 80% of those people can't afford to give birth in a hospital... freaking 20k just to admit a person for the evening

some hectic stats there Treshi!