As we approach the conclusion of Women’s Month, and as the MMC responsible for Health in the City of Tshwane, I would like to encourage women to present themselves as early as possible in their pregnancy to a primary healthcare facility to begin antenatal care.
Antenatal care is a critical phase in a woman’s pregnancy where early monitoring and screening occurs to identify potential risks to the health of the mother and unborn child. This is aimed at detecting problems already present or that can emerge in the pregnancy. Once detected, the problem can be treated. Antenatal care has a further role of improving the general health of women.
Antenatal care should ideally start at the time pregnancy is diagnosed. Antenatal care involves screening and testing for, among others, anaemia, infections, amniotic fluid complications, preeclampsia and hypertension. The primary goal is to ensure early detection and interventions for a healthy outcome for mother and child. It is estimated that 70% of neonatal deaths can be prevented if good-quality maternal healthcare is provided. This service is freely available at all primary healthcare facilities.
Among some of the challenges reported in the Tshwane Health District is that pregnant women make late bookings for antenatal care. Some patients only arrive for antenatal care for the first time during labour. For the previous financial year, the early antenatal booking rate at City of Tshwane clinics was 64,4% below the national target of 74%.
As one of the improvement strategies, all City clinics have implemented the national Department of Health’s Maternal and Neonatal Health Circular 1 of 2020 which stipulates that all women of child-bearing potential who report to clinics should be screened and tested for pregnancy and immediately booked for antenatal care if the pregnancy test is positive. During the past year, 7,4% of pregnant women tested HIV-positive, which is 0,8% more than in the previous year (6,6%). Early antenatal care can also assist in the prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV.
Maternal and child health will continue to remain an important health priority for the City of Tshwane. On a national scale, South Africa has committed itself in terms of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 to, among others, reduce maternal mortality, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases and ensure universal access to reproductive healthcare services.