Tasleem Hassim, from South Africa, is a Stellenbosch University-trained obstetrician and gynecologist. She is currently sub-specializing in maternal-fetal medicine at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town. She is driven by a strong desire to reduce the maternal morbidity and mortality rates in low-income countries that are directly linked to risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and post-partum hemorrhage. She was involved in heading up the Covid-19 response team in the obstetric critical care unit at Tygerberg Hospital during the pandemic.
Her MMed research investigated an affordable intra-uterine balloon tamponade device to manage post-partum hemorrhage, especially for use in countries with limited resources. She is currently doing her Mphil research on the use of HBA1c levels in patients with pre-existing diabetes as a predictor of pregnancy and neonatal incomes in a limited resource setting. She currently serves as a maternal death assessor for the National Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths. She volunteers at SHAWCO, a University of Cape Town–student run women’s health clinic that primarily serves asylum seekers and refugee women. She has a strong connection to the struggles that the community of South Africa face and will do everything in her ability to improve maternal health in South Africa and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
