In this article, maHp/ACMS doctoral researcher Melanie Bisnauth qualitatively explores the experiences of 40 migrant women utilising PMTCT services in a high mobility context of Johannesburg, and how belonging to a specific typology might have affected the health care received and their overall experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read moreHealth responses need to take on board the fact that the number of women and girls migrating across borders as well as within countries is growing.
Read moreSo after a discussion the women chose “Mwangaza Mama”. “Mwangaza”, a Swahili word that translates literally as “light”. However, the women also described it as meaning “joy”, “love” and “caring”. “Mama is a term of respect used for all women – with or without children” they told us.
Read moreIn a world and especially in a country where women’s bodies are systematically oppressed and violated – and where poor, black, foreign bodies are easily treated as disposable and unimportant – being a mother adds layers of fear, threat and physical and emotional burden.
Read morePostdoctoral fellow Becky Walker reflects on the “Life in the City” arts-based research project, which explores the experiences of women who are migrants and mothers living in inner-city Johannesburg.
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