Abstract:
This report is a rapid appraisal of maternal health services in South Africa. It reflects
the first activity in a five-year research programme, funded by DFID. The research
project is a multi-country project involving researchers from the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, (UK) Manchester University (UK) and research
institutions in Uganda, Bangladesh, Russia as well as South Africa. The programme
aims to develop theoretical frameworks and methodologies to better understand health
system functioning in developing countries, and to apply these insights to strengthening
health system development. As part of this project maternal health has been identified
as a possible probe or tracer to illuminate particular features of health system
functioning and performance.
