Mother

Approximately 30% of teenagers in South Africa report ‘ever having been pregnant’, the majority, unplanned. While this number has decreased over the past few decades, it is still unacceptably high. The figure is for all teenagers. (13-19 years old), but motherhood for an 18 or 19 year old has very different implications than for a young teenager, one aged 15, for example. Therefore this report tries, where possible, to be mindful of differing experiences of pregnancy and motherhood across the teen years.

Every year, our State of the World’s Mothers report reminds us of the inextricable link between the well-being of mothers and their children. More than 90 years of experience on the ground have shown us that when mothers have health care, education and economic opportunity, both they and their children have the best chance to survive and thrive.

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of counselling provided to mothers through the programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in South Africa. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study and data collection methods included structured observations of consultations and exit interviews with sixty mothers attending clinics in three purposively selected PMTCT sites across South Africa. One feedback workshop was held in each site with key role players to discuss the findings and to enhance interpretation and understanding.