Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
maternal carelatest news & developments
(John McCann/M&G)

Why babies and mothers are still dying

Look to perceptions and local context – and not more training for nurses – to cut the mortality rate

The theme for World Health Day is ‘healthy beginnings, hopeful futures’ and aims to encourage governments to take actions to reduce mothers’ deaths during pregnancy and childbirth.

Pregnant? Not on medical aid? You might be footing the bill to bring home baby

Women may be paying the price for decades’ old concessions to the medical aid industry.

Discovery Health CEO Jonathan Broomberg responds to allegations that the scheme could have made arrangements to waive a waiting period to cover a returning member’s pregnancy. (Robert Tshabalala, Gallo)

Why Discovery Health didn’t pay up

Would you join a medical aid if you were perfectly healthy? Most won’t. That’s why we need waiting periods, says Discovery CEO Jonathan Broomberg.

The preliminary results of a four-year Competition Commission report show that schemes are paying up for hospital PMBs, but the road to a successful claim is anything but easy. (Philippe Roy)

Are the medical aids really fleecing you?

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to PMBs.

(Jessica Bordeau)

Why medical aids are putting the price of a safe delivery on some women’s pockets

When medical schemes and the law count conceiving as a pre-existing condition, pregnant women lose.

The electoral commission and the media need to better explain how the votes work and that the two ballot papers are of equal importance

Vote like a mother: Five things moms should ask politicians this election

Women – many of them mothers – constitute more than half of the population. What should moms think of before casting their vote?

(John McCann/M&G)

Want your eggs black or white?

The fertility industry and technology are raising difficult questions about race

Where do South Africa’s c-sections happen? Find out in this interactive map by Media Hack. (Shaun Swingler)

This map tells you which districts have the country’s highest c-section rates

Some districts report Caesarean rates of 40%, which is much higher than the 26% national average for public hospitals.

A mother delivers via C-section in Mozambique. In South Africa, there’s no single reason for the climbing number of such procedures in the public sector but it could be proving deadly for mothers. (Shaun Swingler)

A changing birth: What’s behind SA’s skyrocketing c-section rates?

Almost one in four babies born at public hospitals come into the world via c-section but is it costing some women their lives?

Lest we forget: A wall at the memorial site of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau

Why it could cost less than R120 per year to save a life

Maternal deaths in developing regions would fall by 73% if all women had access to contraception and maternal healthcare, shows new research.

Campaigners are calling on the global health community to take immediate action against medical detentions.

Women forced into sex to pay hospital bills, study says

Patients too poor to settle medical debts are chained to drain pipes, starved and abused in health centres across parts of Africa.

Lest we forget: A wall at the memorial site of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau

Midwives’ care during childbirth drastically improves outcomes for labouring mothers

Competent, compassionate care during labour and delivery is good for the dignity of mothers-to-be – and for their chance of survival.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: One of the recommended summer reads for the upcoming holiday season.

‘If it wasn’t for them I would have died:’ How community health workers save lives

Ethiopia’s rural health extension workers have helped halve the country’s child death rate.

Lawyers at the lawyers at the Centre for Health

Depression during pregnancy may leave kids with a legacy of developmental problems

Mothers battling depression may need help forming the early crucial bonds that will affect children’s relationships throughout their lives.

​Exclusively breast-fed children are less likely to become antisocial teens and adults

Research shows mothers’ milk produces children less likely to be involved in crime.

Maternal mortality in Uganda continues to be a development challenge.

Save a little money, save a little life

A grassroots Ugandan health initiative has significantly reduced maternal deaths.

The City’s workers convey waste to removal trucks

Do a third of SA women have a baby by 19?

A health department official has claimed that a third of SA women have a child by 19. The claim is based on data from 1998. Does it hold true?

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks lowest for mothers

Having a baby in sub-Saharan Africa is riskier than anywhere else according to the latest State of the World’s Mothers report.

The world needs midwives, now more than ever

Comment: May 5 is International Midwife Day: a day to acknowledge the vital impact midwives have on maternal health in South Africa.

ARVs alone won’t save HIV infected mothers

Access to ARVs is improving, but poor attitudes to patients are aggravating maternal mortality rates.