## 1 Introduction  
Like many sub-Saharan African countries, South Africa grapples with the burden of maternal and child mortality (MCM) [1]. To achieve the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 for the reduction of MCM, South Africa aims to half its current institutional maternal (120 per 100,000 live births in 2019) and neonatal mortality (25 deaths per 1000 live births in 2018) by 2030 [2]. To accomplish this goal, a maternal, perinatal, and neonatal health (MPNH) policy that offers a framework for delivering valuable, all-inclusive, and cohesive maternal and neonatal services was developed [2]. The scope of the policy covers all interventions aimed at improving the health outcomes of individuals during the reproductive lifecycle. In addition, the policy intends to focus on all front-line workers to ensure universal health coverage through the National Health Insurance (NHI) plan. Although pharmacists are not mentioned as part of the MCH workforce in the MPNH policy, their roles cover interventions in obstetric pharmacotherapy health promotion and disease prevention activities in contraception, preconception, pregnancy and infant care that target drivers of MCM similar to those outlined in the policy [3, 4, 5]. The provision of health promotion and preventive care is one of the goals of primary health care (PHC) as an antidote to some emergency obstetric care needs in MCH in South Africa [6]. Despitethese potentials, community pharmacy operations are often disconnected from national population-based primary care programmes due to the fragmented health care system in South Africa [7]. Integrating pharmacy MCH services into the mainstream national MPNH policy would further enhance these contributions, foster accountability, and promote health system strengthening, which is a priority of the National Development Plan 2030 [8; 9]. The need for integration has become urgent and demands that proven interventions be scaled up and accelerated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic [10]. The situation was emphasised in recent publications that projected a global reversal of the progress made to reduce MCM in the past three decades, which was attributed to the impact of the pandemic [11; 12; 13; 14]. A South African Medical Research Council publication reported a double pandemic in the country due to the rise in adolescent pregnancy in this period [10]. One of the reasons for the rise was the lack of access to contraceptives at public PHC facilities during the hard lockdown. The author recommended that free contraceptives should be provided at schools, community settings, and community pharmacies where advocacy messages can also be promoted, such as in the health care facilities. However, studies from several countries have shown that most practising pharmacists feel uncomfortable and ill-prepared to render MCH services [5; 15; 16]. Inadequate curriculum exposure, lack of relevant resources and continuing professional development in MCH were identified as some of the reasons for the ineptitude observed [5; 16; 17]. Like most discipline-based curricula, the traditional pharmacy curriculum is teacher-centred, non-contextualised and compartmentalised, leading to fragmented learning in silos and inadequately trained graduates [18; 19]. In a study carried out at a medical school in Pakistan, one of the reasons hypothesised for the lack of reduction in the high rate of MCM was the fragmented MCH curriculum adopted at the school [20]. By introducing an integrated MCH curriculum through a team that cut across disciplines such as obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, community medicine, pathology, and pharmacology, students' knowledge, skills and ability to resolve difficult issues related to infant mortality were enhanced. Curriculum integration involves the deliberate fusing or scaffolding of a premeditated educational experience either vertically or horizontally [19; 21].