Abstract
On a recent trip to South Africa I visited a number of health-care facilities, one of which was Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The hospital sees and treats around 70 000 patients a year and deals with 50–70 deliveries a day. Given the high number of women who make use of the maternity services it's not surprising that there are not enough delivery beds, never mind delivery rooms. Women go through labour together in a long corridor with wooden benches and with little support. I must add that all the midwives I met worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to provide the best service they could. But what struck me at the time was the absence of any birth partner because there is no room for partners, mothers or sisters when there is barely room for the women themselves.
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