UCT Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 - Magazine - Page 17
The fellowship was specially designed to elevate the
unpaid care borne by low-income mothers. Phase one of
leadership skills of talented African women who are public
the project took place in 2023 and, using photovoice as a
health professionals and passionate about promoting gender
research method, had mothers from under-resourced Cape
equity in global health systems.
Town communities share visual narratives and re昀氀ections on
how “mothering work” impacts their economic security, wellbeing and daily survival. The exhibition and qualitative insights
Strengthening guidelines for perinatal
mental health
UCT’s Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP)
played a pivotal role in shaping South Africa’s
updated National Integrated Maternal and
Perinatal Care Guidelines (NIMPCG). Released
in October 2024, the guidelines were hailed as a
“watershed moment for women’s health.”
As a key contributor, PMHP successfully
advocated for the inclusion of three new
chapters – covering mental health, intimate
partner violence and other social determinants
– into the national guidelines. The revisions
acknowledge that one in three South African
women experience mental health challenges
during pregnancy or postpartum. A rate double
that of high-income countries, this positions
mental health interventions as essential to
reducing maternal mortality.
Research and Innovation
revealed the invisibility and undervaluation of care work.
Phase two of the project took place in 2024 and includes
the voices of fathers, enabling men to re昀氀ect on their own
upbringing, recognise the emotional, mental and physical
labour mothers carry, and generate ideas to share care
responsibilities. The project seeks to shift gender norms,
foster equitable care partnerships and in昀氀uence policies that
acknowledge care work as a collective responsibility.
Supporting adolescent mothers and their children
through research and policy innovation
UCT researchers within the Centre for Social Science
Research (CSSR) are working to advance gender equality
through a suite of interlinked studies that centre the
experiences and needs of adolescent mothers and their
children. Collectively, these projects address barriers to
education, healthcare and social inclusion faced by young
women navigating early parenthood in South Africa.
The HEY BABY study is collaborative research which
explores pathways to promote resilience among adolescent
their children. In 2024, among other things, the group hosted
with the Eastern Cape Department of Education to design
partners and their children. The study has followed over 1 100
workshops which brought young mothers, traditional healers
and launch a training toolkit that equips teachers to support
young mothers and 1 500 children in the Eastern Cape for
and community stakeholders to identify solutions for stigma
pregnant and mothering learners in schools.
more than a decade, generating critical evidence on sexual
and service integration.
and reproductive health, parenting and child development.
Collectively, these initiatives are strengthening national
The Khanyisa Ngemfundo (Be the Light through Education)
capacity for gender-responsive health and education
Shining a light on the burden of invisible labour
Also based at the CSSR is the Masana Young Moms
project aims to explore and understand mechanisms of
systems, fostering inclusion for adolescent mothers and
The Motherload Project, spearheaded through UCT’s School
Project focused on responding to barriers in HIV and sexual
support for school continuation and return among pregnant
promoting the rights and wellbeing of young women and
of Management Studies, investigates the hidden burden of
reproductive health services for adolescent mothers and
and mothering adolescents. In 2024, this project collaborated
their children.
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Sustainability and the SDGs 2024 – 35
