By More Matshediso
Pretoria - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday said government has taken steps to expand access to services for pregnant women and their infants, through the Primary Health Care Approach.
Replying to oral questions in the National Assembly in Cape Town, Deputy President Ramaphosa said government did this through the national Department of Health.
He said the Primary Health Care Approach is a three-pronged strategy which includes district-based clinical specialist teams for the support of priority health programmes; school-based primary health care services; and municipal ward based primary health care agents.
Deputy President Ramaphosa said government previously reported on the relatively high rates of maternal mortality, and that it is unlikely that it will reach the Millennium Development Goals target by 2015.
“The District Clinical Specialist Teams are part of an effort to strengthen the district health system, to improve the quality of care for mothers, newborns and children, reduce mortality and improve health outcomes in these groups,” the Deputy President said.
“The impact of these and other programmes include a decline in rates of HIV transmission from mother to child from 8% in 2008 to 2% in 2011,” he added.
He said progress has been made in ensuring that HIV-positive pregnant women are receiving early antenatal care and antiretroviral treatment.
Deputy President Ramaphosa added that maternal and child health specialists have been placed in each health district, as part of a concerted strategy to improve clinical governance and overall quality of care.
“The proportion of pregnant women accessing antenatal care before 20 weeks across all provinces has increased significantly since 2011. Government will continue with such initiatives to improve access to quality antenatal care, particularly for young rural women,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy President Ramaphosa will on Saturday chair the plenary session of the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) and embark on an outreach campaign of the HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign in Embalenhle township in Secunda, Mpumalanga.
The outreach programme of the HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign is part of a partnership between government, Sasol and other business and seeks to provide Sasol employees, contractors and the surrounding communities with much-needed comprehensive health services.
Health services for HIV testing and counselling, hypertension, diabetes, TB and other diseases will be made available to members of the public during the visit. - SAnews.gov.za
