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