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Every City clinic will offer free antenatal care, monitoring women's pregnancies in an effort to promote healthy pregnancies and safe motherhood.
Care at one of the City's many clinics
ANTENATAL healthcare services are being extended to every clinic in Johannesburg in an effort to improve the health of pregnant women and their unborn children, and ease antenatal stress.
In the long run this will improve the quality of primary healthcare services and extend access of antenatal services to all, including the destitute. "The City's aim is to improve the general health and well being of its citizens," explains Elionora Lebethe, the deputy director of public health in the City.
The move will ensure that every community is able to receive an assortment of healthcare services at one point or under one roof, instead of having to visit several facilities, Lebethe notes.
"The City is responsive to community needs," she says, adding that the adjustment of these services is according to the Primary Healthcare Package, which sets out the standards of essential primary healthcare services.
Nkosinathi Nkabinde, the health department's communications officer, says that there is a need to integrate essential primary healthcare services, which will be made available to every community, in order to provide a concrete base for an incorporated healthcare system. This will be a driving force in promoting equity in healthcare.
"Primary healthcare is at the heart of the department's plans to transform the health services in the City," he says, adding that the City wants to "provide a solid foundation of a single and unified healthcare system".
Free healthcare
Antenatal care, given to pregnant women from conception to birth, is already available free of charge in all Region D clinics, including Diepkloof, Orlando West, Jabavu, Klipspruit West and Mofolo South, among other facilities.
Antenatal healthcare services are being extended to every clinic in Johannesburg
Lebethe says that all regions are implementing these services on an incremental basis. "That means that eventually the services will be available at all facilities within the city."
"Information about these services is displayed at particular health facilities to inform the community of the package of services available."
Antenatal care includes a full assessment of a woman's pregnancy. "It is very important for pregnant women to book at antenatal clinics once they realise that they are pregnant; we advise them to book before 20 weeks," Lebethe explains.
At the clinics, pregnancy risk factors are identified, complications are diagnosed and health problems are identified to manage and treat them in time. After the initial antenatal visit, the pregnancy is monitored through regular check-ups. The mother's health is also closely monitored.
Pregnant women should visit a clinic regularly to ensure a safe pregnancy and a clean and safe delivery of a healthy baby by knowledgeable health personnel who will use clean and sterile equipment.
"The aim is to increase the percentage of pregnant women receiving antenatal care in City clinics," Nkabinde says.
Clinical guideline
They will be given an antenatal care clinical guideline, which will cover the care they can expect to receive from their midwives and doctors during their pregnancies. It will include information about what they can expect from antenatal appointments and aspects of their lifestyle that they should consider, such as diet, exercise, alcohol and drug intake, sexual activity and smoking.
The antenatal care will include a routine screening test for specific conditions, identifying occupational risk factors, information on what might happen if the pregnancy goes beyond 41 weeks and what will happen if the baby is lying in a breech position, Nkabinde explains.
Once a baby is born, postpartum care will be offered to the mother and her child.
The introduction of such services is tailored to reiterate the City's commitment to high standards of service delivery, particularly primary healthcare, he adds.
While the City will do all in its power to protect and nurture pregnant women, it will not extend the services to include information on birth or parenthood, he says. "We won't prepare them for the extra care they may need if they are expecting more than one baby, or extra care needed if they develop additional problems such as pre-eclampsia, or if the unborn baby has any abnormalities."
Maternal care and child health is one of the main focuses of the City's department of health, which focuses on health promotion and creating awareness around women, teenage pregnancy and child health.
Improve access
Although antenatal care is available for free at City clinics, Nkabinde says that not all pregnant women take advantage of it. "The City wants to improve access to antenatal care by implementing comprehensive antenatal care at 95 percent of fixed clinics in the city."
He adds that Johannesburg will conduct awareness programmes on maternal and reproductive health in all regions, with an emphasis on safe motherhood. Women will be informed about contraception choices, to ensure that individuals and couples make informed decisions when it comes to falling pregnant and having children.
Information on terminations will also be available at the clinics. The department wants to improve pregnancy education and stress important issues that may promote a healthy pregnancy. "It is vital that pregnant women should start attending antenatal care as soon as they suspect that they are pregnant and certainly within their first trimester," Nkabinde advises.
Early antenatal care allows women to manage existing medical conditions that might affect their pregnancies and babies. "Some of these conditions are aggravated by the state of pregnancy, causing hypertension, diabetes, infections and anaemia."
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