As a lower-middle-income country (LMIC), South Africa (SA) bears the burden of maternal and neonatal mortality similar to other sub- Saharan African countries. According to the Saving Mothers Report 2017/19, there has been a progressive and sustained reduction in institutional maternal mortality ... (iMMR) in the past three triennia (2010-2019), from 320 per 100,000 live births to 120 per 100,000 live births. According to the Rapid Mortality Survey, the country’s infant mortality rate has declined from 29 deaths per 1000 live births in 2014 to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018. The institutional neonatal death rate showed a slight decrease from 12,7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2016 to the current level of 12 per 1,000 live births and has remained static at this level for the past three years (saDHIS). Working towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of reducing maternal mortality to below 70 per 100 000 live births and neonatal mortality to 12 deaths per 1000 live births, South Africa aims to reduce institutional maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and stillbirths by 50% by 2030. This Maternal, Perinatal and Neonatal Health Policy provides a framework for the delivery of quality, comprehensive, and integrated MNH services and will guide the development and review of guidelines and related MNH interventions, including strengthening of the service delivery platform, governance, leadership and accountability for the provision of quality MNH services, development of advocacy messages, and guiding civil society priorities and community initiatives. The policy will also guide the development and review of academic curricula and the setting of research priorities. more

These guidelines form part of efforts to institutionalize the prevention and containment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in healthcare facilities in South Africa, as outlined in the Antimicrobial Resistance Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan. The focus of these guidelines is on two interr ... elated aspects of prevention of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and their spread; and the application of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) practices at hospital level. They aim to serve as a practical, step-by-step or ‘how-to’ guide, addressing the infection prevention and AMS components of a robust response in a hospital. They draw on evidence from various international guidance documents and standards for interventions that have been shown to be successful in infection prevention and AMS programmes. These interventions have been customised to the South African hospital setting based on local experiences in the public and private health sectors. This was done through a series of workshops and requests for comment involving country-level experts. more

These guidelines have been prepared by the Sub directorate: Maternal Health for the guidance of health workers (doctors and midwives) providing obstetric, surgical and anaesthetic services for pregnant women in district clinics, health centres and district hospitals. These guidelines are intended fo ... r use in clinics, community health centres and district hospitals where specialist services are not normally available. The guidelines deal mainly with the diagnosis and especially the management of common and serious pregnancy problems. The assumption is made that the reader has a basic knowledge and understanding about the care of pregnant women. With a few exceptions (e.g. pre-eclampsia), there is no mention of aetiology and pathogenesis of the conditions described.https://www.knowledgehub.org.za/elibrary/guidelines-maternity-care-south-africa-2016 more

This module introduces the “Vaccinator’s Manual”, a guideline for vaccinators. The aim of the manual is to update EPI guidelines to include all the changes since the third edition of the Vaccinators Manual (2008)