Reproductive Health
latest news & developments
Here’s what SA’s teen girls want you to know about their state of mind
Fifty 50 teenage girls and young women from communities with high rates of HIV, early pregnancy and school drop-out rates spoke about what’s stressing them out, and how they are…
In the time of aid cuts, decentralise women’s health funding
Women and young people don’t need foreign experts to tell them what their communities need; they need resources and support to implement locally developed and relevant solutions
Africa wins when women’s health is a priority. Here’s why
It is women and girls who will suffer the most from the funding crisis caused by cuts to development aid.
Blaming the wrong girl for getting pregnant
Adolescent girls and young women are blamed and shamed for falling pregnant, which affects how they are treated, the support they get, and the health services they reive
NWU’s population and health expertise is guiding South Africa to a more equitable future
The Population and Health Research Entity at the North-West University (NWU) brings together both budding and veteran researchers with a singular mission: to illuminate and…
One in seven mothers in South Africa are teens, data shows
Nearly 365 teenagers give birth in South Africa every day, with 10 of those daily births to mothers younger than 15
Risky behaviour and coercion are driving the teen pregnancy crisis in rural South Africa
According to the 2022-23 District Health Barometer, there has been a 6.1% increase in the number of deliveries by girls and women aged 10 to 19, over the past five years
When all else fails: Why people opt for backstreet abortions
Abortion is legal in South Africa. But bad treatment, stigma, a lack of privacy and long waiting periods for abortions at government clinics can drive people to illegal providers
The Covid pandemic has exacerbated weaknesses in health systems, particularly in poor countries
Strategic investments in health care for all are needed to ensure safe births, treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, measles, pneumonia and diarrhoea, and children are vaccinated
Fickle funding for women-led startups hurts femtech
It is difficult for startups to get off the ground, especially when they are women-focused
Condom crisis hits safe sex during Covid-19
Pandemic disrupts the supply of external condoms — and inner ones are unknown and in short supply
“In my heart I scream”: Involve young people in decision-making about their lives
Laws on access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and age of consent to sexual activity in many countries do not adequately serve the needs of young…
Covid-19 puts Sierra Leone’s expectant mothers at further risk
Almost 70% of the world’s maternal deaths happen in Africa. Now there’s coronavirus — and with poor prenatal and postnatal care on the continent, expectant mothers and children…
Are surrogate and IVF babies ‘essential’ in a pandemic?
Now is the time to examine how reproductive health in South Africa is riddled by inequities based on race and class
The Arab world’s silent reproductive revolution
Changing household structures, economic growth and contraceptives prompt dramatic drop in fertility rate, study finds