Grow Great released findings of a study conducted on the impact of COVID-19 on the nutrition and mental health of pregnant women in Cape Town on Thursday, 18 March 2021.
The CoCare Maternal Support Study found that pregnant women living in disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape experienced high levels of hunger, poor mental health, and economic insecurity in the months following South Africa’s national COVID-19 lockdown
The majority of participants in the CoCare Maternal Support Study (71%) did not have past-month employment or work-related income. 39% of pregnant respondents reported going hungry in the previous week and 61% of women reported they had felt down or depressed in the past week.
The consequences of poor maternal nutrition & mental health are long-term and adverse for the physical and brain development of unborn babies. There is an urgent need to expand the Child Support Grant into pregnancy – mothers should not only receive it from birth!
GG-COCARE-REPORT-final-1Source: https://www.growgreat.co.za/grow-great-releases-cocare-maternal-support-study/