WHAT’S NEXT?

Pregnant women are excluded from South Africa’s current social security system. Because women make up a significant proportion of vulnerable workers in the formal and informal economies, many mothers lack basic rights to care and provide for their families. In order for them to break out of the inequality trap, we must provide better systems of support for pregnant women. Mentor believes that changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the introduction of an improved paid maternity leave policy would help ensure women are not forced to drop out of the economy to care for their young children.

Honikman is of the opinion that a Maternal Support Grant (MSG) would incentivise pregnant women to visit health facilities early in pregnancy and get greater benefits of preventive and promotive maternal health services and monitoring. “Further, a maternal support grant that converts into a child support grant when the child is born would likely promote early birth registration, which has many documented benefits for infants’ health and development. From the evidence available, it is highly likely that the societal benefits of such a grant would significantly outweigh the costs.”

Dr Edzani Mphaphuli of Grow Great says that although mothers are vulnerable, they are – and have historically been – key agents of social change. She urges government to invest in the MSG, rather than “pay the price of stunting in the form of high unemployment, continued poverty and poor health outcomes”. She believes children whose brains and bodies “grow great” in the first 1 000 days grow up to be adults with great ideas that grow great economies!