South African health decentralisation: requiring contextually intelligent leaders

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Ellenore Meyer ◽  
Leena Thomas ◽  
Selma Smith ◽  
Caren Scheepers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health System ◽  
South African ◽  
Decision Space ◽  
Content Type ◽  
African Health ◽  
South African Health

Subject area Public Health; Leadership; Organisational Development; Organisational Behaviour; Public Administration Management. Study level/applicability Postgraduate level for honours or masters programmes in courses on public health; executive leadership and management programmes; MBA level. Case overview The case unpacks decentralisation as a means to promote and improve local decision-making and accountability through community participation and engagements. Ayanda Nkele was a programme manager in a health district in South Africa. He was faced with many challenges when trying to implement his programme, most of which were related to local authority, responsibilities and decision-making abilities at his level. This case describes briefly the South African health system. and how it functions. It describes the proposed changes to the health system and its transformation towards Universal Health Coverage. The decision space analysis as discussed in the case illustrates the types of decentralisation in the country and how this also applies to Nkele’s level. Expected learning outcomes Understanding the concepts and principles of decentralisation within the context of strengthening district health services, the re-engineering of primary health care (PHC) and rolling out a National Health Insurance in South Africa. Applying the “decision space” approach to analyse the extent of decentralisation. Grasping the requirement of leaders to be “contextually intelligent” and identify the important contextual variables to take into account when analysing public health care. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 7: Management Science.

COVID-19 will test brittle South African health system

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health System ◽  
South African ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Finances ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
African Health ◽  
National Reputation ◽  
National Disaster ◽  
South African Health

Significance President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 15 declared a state of national disaster and announced stringent measures to help combat the outbreak. While South Africa is relatively well equipped to manage the early stages of a crisis, a surge in infections could overwhelm the country’s hospitals. Impacts The crisis has enhanced Ramaphosa’s national reputation, giving him respite from internal ANC opposition with a key party meeting postponed. Efforts to combat COVID-19’s spread will further strain already weak public finances, with a ratings agency downgrade looming. The survival of embattled national carrier South African Airways is in further doubt amid global airline upheaval.

scholarly journals Consulting the South African experts in physiotherapeutic stroke rehabilitation

2001 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Hale ◽  
C. J. Eales
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Stroke Rehabilitation ◽  
Delphi Technique ◽  
Rehabilitation Services ◽  
The South ◽  
Innovative Methods ◽  
African Health ◽  
South African Health

This paper presents the opinions of expert physiotherapists on what constitutes optimal stroke rehabilitation in South Africa. Data were collected by the use of the Delphi technique. Consensus was reached after two rounds, and the respondents’ views are summarised and discussed within the framework of South African health care. Results showed that physiotherapy was felt to be very important after stroke, and the survey created a profile of the skills that physiotherapists may require in order to work in this field. However, no new or innovative methods by which appropriate rehabilitation services could be delivered in South Africa were generated by the survey.The Delphi technique is described and its use in this survey considered.

The relative efficiency of South African municipalities in providing public health care

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-365
Author(s):  
Josue Mbonigaba ◽  
Saidou Baba Oumar
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health System ◽  
South African ◽  
Relative Efficiency ◽  
National Health System ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Primary Health

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the relative efficiency of South African municipalities in primary health care and hospital care is different and whether South African municipalities can learn from each other to improve on their efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The paper employs efficiency scores, estimated with data envelopment analysis using data from the District Health Barometer of the Health Systems Trust to rank South African municipalities across primary health care and hospital health care. Findings The finding is that the ranking of municipalities is not the same across both types of health care when efficiency scores and efficiency score growth are contemplated. These results imply that municipalities in South Africa are generally inefficient, but with the possibility of learning from each other’s practice in order to increase their technical efficiency. Practical implications The health system authority should monitor service-specific best practices among municipalities so that they can use them as practice guidelines for other municipalities. Originality/value Previous studies in South Africa have not dis-aggregated efficiency analysis across municipalities which are health system components of the broader national health system.

scholarly journals Privatisation of South African health care: In whose interest?

Curationis ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
H.C.J Van Rensburg ◽  
A. Fourie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
South African ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Patient Population ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
African Health ◽  
South African Health

In this article, essentially a critique on the privatisation of health care delivery in South Africa, the concept and social phenomenon of privatisation is analysed and evaluated, and the detrimental side-effects and latent consequences thereof dismantled. It is argued that the privatisation of South African health care is a reflection of narrow economistic thinking that will neither contribute to the more efficient functioning of the existing health care system nor alleviate the prevailing problems of shortages of resources and deficiencies in organisation. Privatisation of South African health care is in the last instance and in many respectse not in the interest of the patient population in all its diversity.

scholarly journals REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR DRUG PRODUCTS REGISTRATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Senthil V. ◽  
L. Srianitha ◽  
R. Baviyapriyadharshini
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Pharmaceutical Market ◽  
Regulatory Body ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Drug Products ◽  
Drug Registration ◽  
African Health ◽  
Regulatory Submissions ◽  
South African Health

The South African Pharmaceutical market is one of the emerging markets in the world and it is important to study on how to register a drug in the promising pharmaceutical market in Africa. The MCC is the regulatory body which deals with the quality, safety and efficacy of the medicines in South African market which regulates by approving the medicines by very specific process which is unique to South African health system. They have a specific type of CTD for Regulatory submissions which is generally well known as ZA CTD. This article provides the insight on the Drug Registration process in South Africa, the details of data to be submitted to the agency and the pathways of registration an applicant can avail, categories a drug can be registered by MCC, Application fees to be paid to the agency on various types of applications are also dealt.

scholarly journals Policy-making for real: Politics and progress in South African health care

Curationis ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fourie ◽  
H. C. J. Van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African Health ◽  
The Status ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
South African Health

Problems have been accumulating in South African health care for well over three centuries yet when it comes to resolving the crisis by means of appropriate policy measures, one becomes aware of the powers at play and the interests at stake in maintaining the status quo, thus obstructing much initiative in the process of reform.

The public’s trust and information brokers in health care, public health and research

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 929-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodyn Platt ◽  
Minakshi Raj ◽  
Sharon L.R. Kardia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health System ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Information Brokers

Purpose Nations such as the USA are investing in technologies such as electronic health records in order to collect, store and transfer information across boundaries of health care, public health and research. Health information brokers such as health care providers, public health departments and university researchers function as “access points” to manage relationships between the public and the health system. The relationship between the public and health information brokers is influenced by trust; and this relationship may predict the trust that the public has in the health system as a whole, which has implications for public trust in the system, and consequently, legitimacy of involved institutions, under circumstances of health information data sharing in the future. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors aimed to examine characteristics of trustors (i.e. the public) that predict trust in health information brokers; and further, to identify the factors that influence trust in brokers that also predict system trust. The authors developed a survey that was administered to US respondents in 2014 using GfK’s nationally representative sample, with a final sample of 1,011 participants and conducted ordinary least squares regression for data analyses. Findings Results suggest that health care providers are the most trusted information brokers of those examined. Beliefs about medical deceptive behavior were negatively associated with trust in each of the information brokers examined; however, psychosocial factors were significantly associated with trust in brokers, suggesting that individual attitudes and beliefs are influential on trust in brokers. Positive views of information sharing and the expectation of benefits of information sharing for health outcomes and health care quality are associated with system trust. Originality/value This study suggests that demonstrating the benefits and value of information sharing could be beneficial for building public trust in the health system; however, trust in brokers of information are variable across the public; that is, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs are associated with the level of trust different individuals have in various health information brokers – suggesting that the need for a personalized approach to building trust.

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