On 2016 Nov 30, Gwinyai Masukume commented:

According to this 2016 Maternal Health Lancet Series paper, unlike for most African countries no data was available for the number of obstetricians and gynaecologists and midwives in South Africa precluding the calculation of the ratio of these practitioners per 1000 pregnancies. This deficit of South African data also applies to the Caesarean section rate global estimates from the World Health Organization published this year in another journal Betrán AP, 2016.

The apparent lack of data from South Africa suggests that it has ‘fallen off’ the international maternal health map. However, the Health Professions Council of South Africa Holmer H, 2015 and the South African Nursing Council have contemporary and historical data on the number of obstetricians and gynaecologists and midwives respectively. Caesarean delivery rates are available from the Health Systems Trust.

Because information from The Lancet and the World Health Organization has a global reach and influences key policy makers, this high level lack of visibility of pertinent South African maternal health data is concerning. Maternal health metrics are “essential to guide intervention research, set implementation priorities, and improve quality of care, particularly for women and babies most at risk” Koblinsky M, 2016.

Efforts to quickly address this lack of visibility are warranted.

On 2016 Nov 30, Gwinyai Masukume commented:

According to this 2016 Maternal Health Lancet Series paper, unlike for most African countries no data was available for the number of obstetricians and gynaecologists and midwives in South Africa precluding the calculation of the ratio of these practitioners per 1000 pregnancies. This deficit of South African data also applies to the Caesarean section rate global estimates from the World Health Organization published this year in another journal Betrán AP, 2016.

The apparent lack of data from South Africa suggests that it has ‘fallen off’ the international maternal health map. However, the Health Professions Council of South Africa Holmer H, 2015 and the South African Nursing Council have contemporary and historical data on the number of obstetricians and gynaecologists and midwives respectively. Caesarean delivery rates are available from the Health Systems Trust.

Because information from The Lancet and the World Health Organization has a global reach and influences key policy makers, this high level lack of visibility of pertinent South African maternal health data is concerning. Maternal health metrics are “essential to guide intervention research, set implementation priorities, and improve quality of care, particularly for women and babies most at risk” Koblinsky M, 2016.

Efforts to quickly address this lack of visibility are warranted.