MEC for Health commends CCG’s
THE number of pregnant women who attend clinics during their first twenty weeks of pregnancy has increased from 40% to 72% in the past three years.
This is owing to the wonderful work done by Community Care Givers (CCG) throughout the province.
This was revealed by the KZN MEC for Health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, during the centenary celebration of Queen Nandi Hospital on Friday last week.
He said this helps health care professionals to be able to detect more underlying ailments such as HIV, hypertension, cancer and others which may pose a threat to pregnant women and to their unborn babies.
‘As part of their health education and promotion work, the Department’s 10 200 CCGs visit homes throughout the province. They also screen women and girls aged 15 and older for pregnancy.
‘Those who test positive for pregnancy are urged to visit a health facility where they are then booked for ante-natal clinics. This pregnancy screening programme was introduced in 2015.
‘When we started with this campaign, only 40% of pregnant women were coming forward during this period; now it is 72%. This is an amazing story because it gives us a very positive outcome.
‘If those mothers have any other illness and a need for any treatment, we are able to intervene much earlier.
‘That’s why transmission of HIV from the mother to the baby has been so significantly reduced,’ he said.
Dhlomo said the province has managed to reduce the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV from 20% in 2008 to the current just 1,2%. Queen Nandi Regional Hospital is dedicated exclusively to the care of obstetrical, gynaecological and neonatal patients, and with 369 beds the hospital averages about 8 000 deliveries, and performs some 2 000 gynaecological surgery procedures per year.