Article Sidebar
Published:
May 7, 2018Article Details
Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].
Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
Previously published images
If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.
Main Article Content
Improvements in maternal mortality in South Africa
Abstract
South Africa introduced confidential enquiries into maternal deaths in 1997, and the first report was published in 1998. Subsequently, six triennial reports have been published ,and the seventh was being prepared at the time of submission of this manuscript. This paper is focused on data from the last 5 years and documents the reduction in maternal deaths since 2009. The main reason for this decline in maternal deaths has been the success of the antiretroviral treatment programme for HIV-positive women. There has also been a decline in deaths owing to obstetric haemorrhage, but deaths owing to complications of hypertension remain stubbornly high. There has been a continuous reduction in potentially preventable maternal deaths since 2008. However, there is still much to do, and efforts need to concentrate on improving the health system to reduce the deaths owing to haemorrhage and hypertension.
