Johannesburg - A cash grant during and post pregnancy, food parcels and a call centre to support pregnant women.
These were some of the interventions aimed at helping the country’s vulnerable and poverty-stricken women that were presented during a maternity health symposium held on Friday.
The symposium, hosted by the Centre for Health Policy in the Wits School of Public Health, had the theme of “Global Insights on Health System and Community Interventions to Improve Maternal Health – Lessons for South Africa”.
The research and policy officer at the Youth Lab, Tessa Dooms, presented the findings of a study conducted by the Centre for Health Policy at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital’s prenatal unit in 2011.
Twenty-two women were interviewed.
“We found the majority of women were economically disadvantaged and that only two were employed and on maternity leave,” Dooms said.
“Most were supported by their partners and parents, but that didn’t guarantee financial security.”
The study found that many of the women were recipients of grants, but did not decide how that money was spent in the household.
The study, which was funded by and produced for the Department of Social Development, also centred on the employability of the women.
It found that pregnancy introduced financial pressures on households because women were often unable to work, there was an increased volume and variety of foods needed during pregnancy and breast-feeding, and travel costs were needed for health visits.
“While pregnancy is a unique experience in every way, for poor women it is an expensive experience and also leads to the diminishing of the ability for women to be financially empowered,” Dooms added.
The study found the Department of Social Development’s comprehensive social security system for the poor did not cover maternity benefits for unemployed women or those in informal settlements and that the country could “markedly enhance human capital” and avert costs to the state by investing in early childhood development.
Without state support, inequalities in maternal health and early childhood outcomes would continue, and progress towards health and social goals would remain slow.
Among the interventions the researchers involved in the study proposed for poor and vulnerable women were a cash grant for six months during pregnancy, a cash grant for 12 months post-delivery, and an increment to the post-delivery grant for post-natal clinic services for 12 months after delivery.
“A maternity and early child grant could reverse the adverse effects of poverty, unemployment and inadequate education among vulnerable women,” the researchers said.
“It could avoid costs for the state presented by low-birth-weight infants and inadequate nutrition.” - The Star