Promoting women’s reproductive and overall health should be a top priority for community development, says an NGO. Picture: Supplied
The majority of us are aware of the fundamental components of good health, such as maintaining a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, drinking plenty of water, and managing stress.
Millions of women in vulnerable communities across South Africa are struggling to obtain basic and tertiary health-care services as a result of rising demand over the past three years.
More so than in the past, medical care has focused on treating diseases, which might lower death rates and lengthen life expectancy, but what if some health conditions could be easily avoided prior to medical intervention?
These circumstances, according to Rhiza Babuyile, a community development NGO that works in townships throughout South Africa, have increased demand for access to charity-sponsored health care for those who have trouble accessing the overburdened public system.
South Africa's health-care system is exceedingly unequal and is split into two tiers: public and private. The public sector, which is backed by the government, provides services to 71% of the population.
Getting preventive care is fundamental to failing health-care systems and an increase in lifestyle diseases. Preventive treatment services reduce the risk for diseases, disability and death — yet millions of people don’t get recommended preventive health-care services.
Although health-care services are becoming more readily available for women's specific needs and generally, Sister Thandi Mgcina, health-care manager at Rhiza Babuyile, says there are still many adolescent girls and women who need to be encouraged to seek health care at their closest accessible facility, as many vulnerable women are reluctant to seek medical care related to taboo topics such as sex, HIV and reproductive health.
Public education drives and media campaigns encouraging women to take a proactive attitude towards their health have proved effective in improving health-care outcomes in the last year.
In South Africa, there are 8.2 million people living with HIV, up from an estimated 3.8 million in 2002, according to Statistics SA, and these numbers are expected to rise.
Mgcina said that previous years have demonstrated that communities where women have improved access to holistic primary health care, including reproductive health care, care associated with gender-based violence (GBV), and mental health care are significantly more stable socio-economically.
Lack of awareness is still a challenge to be tackled for preventive women’s health care
Creating awareness around female reproductive health issues has proved challenging as there is still a severe lack of knowledge among women about the kinds of health-care services they could be accessing and why. A 2017 study showed that 89.9% of women knew about oral contraception and that 41.8% used non-barrier methods.
Mgcina said: “We are preventing another spike in demand for public tertiary health care, as well as enhancing the quality of life and development results for communities, by encouraging women’s health care in the most disadvantaged areas.”
If South Africa can reduce the number of women getting sick from preventable conditions like cervical cancer, HIV and diseases linked to malnutrition, this will mean more women who are able to participate in the workforce and support their families.
“Our goal at Rhiza Babuyile is to provide an environment where girls and women can make choices about what occurs in their own bodies without feeling excessive pressure or having others make those choices for them,” said according to Mgcina.
Unintended pregnancies are still common among women in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. For them, life is made more challenging by health problems brought on by early sexual engagement, a lack of access to reliable contraception, and poor hygiene later in life.
Another important but frequently ignored aspect of women’s health is nutrition. Women in rural areas can grow food for subsistence farming, whereas women in townships are compelled to rely on the food they can afford to buy daily. As a result, women in townships have slightly different health-care difficulties than women in rural areas.
This has frequently resulted in concerns with concealed malnutrition when many women are not getting the nutrition they need while eating adequate food daily.
This illustrates the need for a comprehensive strategy that takes into account the effects of inequality, poverty and unemployment when addressing health-care challenges in underprivileged communities.
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