Positioning Ontologies of Racial Inequity That are Prevalent in Reproductive and Maternal Health in South Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the racialized historical trajectories through which current health inequities are sustained in South Africa's health system. While current discussions recognize these inequalities, few have recognized a missing element—disaggregated data based on racial demographic indicators—that is critical to better understanding why these inequalities persist. Drawing on maternal health data, the paper highlights how race is both ontologically and practically invisibilized in demographic health records, undermining targeted health care interventions. The absence of disaggregated statistical data that indicate racial difference regarding health outcomes hinders any meaningful gains in transforming the maternal health landscape in South Africa. By situating maternal health inequalities within a broader framework of historic violence and racialized power structures, this paper calls for a critical reckoning with how race continues to shape access to and experiences of maternal health care in South Africa.