Johannesburg - When 18-year-old Busisiwe* was four months pregnant, she went to an antenatal clinic because she wanted to know if she was HIV-positive so she could protect her baby.
The teen from KwaZulu-Natal had to walk, a journey that takes between 60 and 90 minutes each way. She said the clinic’s healthcare workers shouted at her in public for being pregnant when so young, and did not attend to her.
This was one case study in a series of similar incidents that researchers encountered while compiling Amnesty International’s (AI) latest report, titled “Struggle for Maternal Health: Barriers to antenatal care in South Africa”.
The report was launched on Thursday at the human rights watchdog’s new regional office based in Melrose, Joburg.
“To understand the barriers to early and continuous antenatal care, Amnesty International spoke to women and girls, as well as healthcare workers in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga during field research conducted between March 2013 and September 2014,” the report states.
In 2000, the government promised to reduce the number of maternal deaths by three-quarters, from 250 to 38 per 100 000 live births. The number has now risen to 269 deaths per 100 000 live births.
There were 1 560 recorded deaths in 2011 and 1 426 in 2012.
The report says 40 percent of the deaths are linked to HIV.
AI identified three barriers that prevented the 200 women interviewed from both provinces from accessing antenatal care: a lack of privacy and patient confidentiality, particularly regarding HIV tests; lack of information on reproductive health and rights; and issues surrounding access to transport to primary health-care facilities.
“Frankly, it’s quite shocking that an estimated 1 500 women die every year during childbirth. The government has done many positive things after the initial denial of HIV and Aids. But this problem is still not being taken seriously enough…” said Salil Shetty, AI’s secretary-general. “It’s unacceptable that pregnant women and girls are continuing to die in South Africa because they fear their HIV status will be revealed, or because of a lack of transport or basic sexual education.”
Louise Carmody, AI’s lead researcher for the report, said their team had compiled various recommendations for the government, including extending the Department of Social Development’s social grant to include the period of pregnancy. “We also recommend that the Department of Health reforms all procedures that compromise the patient’s privacy and that the Department of Transport urgently address the lack of safe transport.”
Shetty said AI would be meeting with government officials over the next few days to discuss their findings.
* Not her real name
The Star