REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA COMBINED SECOND PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE`S RIGHTS and INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Measures to protect the right to bodily integrity 132. The Constitution guarantees the right to bodily and psychological integrity.81 The right to make decisions concerning reproduction is a crucial aspect of control over one’s body. 133. The Policy on Universal Access to Primary Health Care, introduced in 1994, paved the way for effective health care delivery programmes. This policy provides for free health care to pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of six. One outcome of the implementation of universal access has been a marked increase in access to health facilities and high levels of utilization of primary health care (PHC) services. 134. The Gender Policy Guidelines for the Public Health Sector, 2002 were developed to ensure that an effective framework is in place to develop, implement and monitor laws, policies, programmes, procedures and practices for women’s health. Further the policy ensures that in all spheres of life, equitable attention and sensitivity is given to the health needs of women and girls in relation to men and boys. Implementation of this policy allows for a gender-focused approach to health planning and programming. It has provided the impetus for numerous innovative initiatives. The National Health Act, 200382 further entrenches principles for promotion of women’s health. 135. A large percentage of the women live in isolated areas, and struggle to gain physical access to the hospitals or clinics. The State has attempted to address this problem by rolling out mobile clinics to visit the larger rural areas. The second problem facing rural women is that they are not informed of the healthcare options open to them, and therefore do not seek treatment for treatable problems. This receives on-going attention by mobile clinics and extensive information campaigns. 136. There has been a demonstrable increase in women’s access to reproductive health care services in South Africa. Improved reproductive health services have resulted in a reduction in illness and death amongst women. Family planning is a broad term that encompasses the provision of contraception methods to sexually active women and includes fertility planning, for example spacing and management of infertility, and termination of pregnancies. The provision of appropriate and adequate family planning services in South Africa is critical in a context of high rates of teenage pregnancies, as well as high rates of mother and child mortality and HIV. 137. In South Africa, according to Statistics South Africa in its estimates of the 2013 population of just less than 53-million people, the total fertility rate83 had dropped from 2.7 children 81 S 12(2) “Everyone has the right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right – (a) to make decisions concerning reproduction; (b) to security in and control over their body; and (c) not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiments without their informed consent.” 82 Act 61 of 2003 83 The total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime. 42