5

Women in Healthcare

In1991theaveragelifeexpectancyof
SouthAfricanwomenwas66years.It
droppedto52.8yearsby2005,duetothe
impactoftheHIV/AIDSepidemic.

Ithasgraduallyrecoveredto61.4years
by2013

1

,butthisisstillmorethana20

yeardifferencecomparedtocountries
like

Japan,

Australia,

Switzerland,

Canada,

France

and

Spain.

OtherAfricancountriesinwhichwomen
haveahigherlifeexpectancythanthatof
SouthAfricanwomeninclude-Namibia,
Ghana,

Botswana,

Senegal

and

Cameroon,eventhoughsomeofthese
countrieshavealowerGDPpercapita
thanSouthAfrica.

Women’s Health Statistics in SA

1

The 

average life expectancy 

of South African women 

is almost 

20 years less 

than women in other parts of the world. 

Ourcountryhasbeennamedasthe“RapeCapitalofthe

World”

3

–wehavealmost

3600rapesperday

(150perhour)

andonly1in9rapesare

actuallyreported

.

Thevictimshaveoftenreported

thattheyweremadetofeellikeperpetratorsandmost
continuetoquietlyliveinshame,internalisingthetrauma
andperpetuatingoursilentacceptanceofthisgrossviolation
ofourrightsasSouthAfricancitizens.

TheworldhasbeenhorrifiedbytherecentmurderofReeva
Steenkamp;butwhatremainsadirtySouthAfricansecretis

that

“Everyeighthoursawomenis

killedbyherintimatepartner”

inour

country

4

.Asindividuals,mostofthesewomendonotraise

asingleheadlineandasacollective,theyarenotrecognized
tobeasymptomofaferociousdisease,whichisdegrading
oursocialfabric.

Thenumberof

Maternaldeaths,

inourcountry,

rosefrom310

per100000birthsin2008to
333per100000birthsin
2009.

Grandmothers

and

extended

familiesarelefttoraisethemotherless
childrenandmanyofthesecaregivers
battletoaccessthelifesavingChild
SupportGrants,ifthebabywasnot
registeredbeforethemotherdied.Even
whenthebabieshavebeenregistered,

thesegrantstypicallytake18monthsto
process,whichmeansthatthefamilies
willnothavetherequiredsupportduring
themostimportantphaseofthebaby’s
growthanddevelopment.Theeffectsof
thisdelayisfeltmanyyearslaterinthe
social,emotional,physicalandmental
performanceofthechild.

AlthoughtheMaternalMortalityratioin
our

country,

has

been

gradually

improvingoverthelastfewyears,the
level(300/100000livebirthsin2010)is

stillfarhigherthantheMillennium
DevelopmentGoalstarget,thathasbeen
setforSouthAfrica(38/100000live

births

by

2015)

10

.

Manymore

generations

will

be

lost

unlessweareabletomake
childbirthsafer

–ourmothersare

ournationbuildersandtheirhealthand
wellbeingisthekeytoabetterfuturefor
allSouthAfricanchildren.

RapeCapital

of the World

When 

mother 

is snatched away, 

Gogo picks up the pieces

What’s in  

the 

Headlines?

9

7Minister of Health, Dr A Motsoaledi
8WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2013
9Skosana and Masinga, Mail and Guardian 2012
10South African Health Review 2013, Independent Expert Review Group 2013
11South African National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, MRC 2012 
12The Lancet 2012

1StatsSA 2013
2The Lancet 2012
3Interpol
4Medical Research Council, Gender and Health Research Unit 2012
5John Hopkins
6HSRC HIV Household Survey 2014