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Kenya’s healthcare workers abuse a third of teen mums from informal settlements – study

Kenya’s healthcare workers abuse a third of teen mums from informal settlements – study

ADOLESCENT pregnancy is a global public health concern: in 2022, about 13% of girls and young women gave birth before the age of 18. Compared with women in their early 20s, adolescents are more susceptible to maternal deaths. Pregnancy-related complications are among the leading causes of death among Africa’s adolescent girls. Babies born to adolescent mothers in low- to middle-income countries also face an increased risk of neonatal deaths, and pre-term and underweight birth. These risks make it vital that pregnant girls feel comfortable seeking healthcare. Adolescent pregnancy is an issue in Kenya, too, where 15% of adolescent girls become…
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How South Africa is integrating COVID into routine care for mothers and babies

How South Africa is integrating COVID into routine care for mothers and babies

COVID-19 has had a direct impact on maternal mortality. Pregnant women are not at an increased risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2. But data show they are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease. This is especially the case in the last 12 weeks of pregnancy, and this is still the case two years into the pandemic. Authors JEANNETTE WESSELS, Researcher, Centre for Maternal, Fetal, Newborn and Child Health Care Strategies, University of Pretoria UTE FEUCHT, Associate Professor in Paediatrics, University of Pretoria In South Africa, this risk equated to an additional 16 COVID-19-related maternal deaths per 100,000 live births,…
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There’s only one way to protect women and children from the pandemic: cooperation

There’s only one way to protect women and children from the pandemic: cooperation

VIVIAN M LOPEZ GOOD news first: more than a billion children were vaccinated over the past decade. Maternal deaths declined by 35 per cent since 2000. Deaths of children under five reached an all-time low in 2019, a year when more girls were attending school than ever before. The progress was not universal, of course. Women and children living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia accounted for over 80 percent of under-5 deaths and maternal deaths. Then, in just a few short months, the COVID-19 pandemic set back this progress, reversing hard-won advances in maternal and child health, women’s rights,…
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