Access to cataract services in selected rural communities in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lunic Base Khoza ◽  
Wilfred Njabulo Nunu ◽  
Bumani Solomon Manganye ◽  
Pfungwa Mambanga ◽  
Shonisani Tshivhase ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Patient Records

Abstract Background Despite government efforts to improve access to health care services through the re-engineered Primary Health Care and National Health insurance platform, access still remain a challenge particularly in rural areas. The aim of this study was to analyse secondary data on cataract patients who were attended to in selected hospitals in rural Limpopo of South Africa. Methodology A cross section survey was conducted on 411 patient records from five selected hospitals in Vhembe district. A pre tested structured checklist was used to guide retrieval of variables from patient records. The collected data was entered into excel spreadsheet, cleaned and imported into Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26 for analysis. Proportions of demographic characteristics were presented and these were cross tabulated with the outcome variable “success of operation” using Chi Squared tests. Results Findings point out that majority of patients who attended hospital for eye services were aged 65 years above and females (63%). There was no association between the tested demographic characteristics and the outcome variable. Most patients were diagnosed in the period 2015-2018 (60%). Over 90% of those that were operated had successful operations. Of the remaining 10% that had unsuccessful operations, 30% cited complications as being the reason why these operations were unsuccessful. Conclusions It is evident from the findings that cataract services offered in rural areas have low impact as they are not accessible to the patient. It is critical to have a worker retention strategy to retain experts.

scholarly journals Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Barriers to Accessing Health Care Services in Rural Settings: A Human Capabilities Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 336-344
Author(s):  
Rachel Chinyakata ◽  
Nicolette V. Roman ◽  
Fikile B. Msiza
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
Care Facilities

Background: Despite efforts to achieve universal access to health care by various stakeholders globally, most developing countries continue to face serious health delivery challenges, especially in rural areas. Introduction: These inhibit individuals and communities’ ability to obtain health care services when needed and the freedom to use health care. Although issues of access to health care have been widely researched in South Africa, a detailed account on access to health care in particular communities is necessary for developing interventions that are tailored to the specific needs of that community. Understanding the accounts of stakeholders to the perceived barriers to access to health care services can help comprehend the issues that hinder people from accessing health care. Therefore, this study explored the stakeholders’ perspectives on the barriers to accessing health care services in rural settings in South Africa. Methods: A qualitative approach was used to guide the collection and analysis of the data. Data were collected from a sample of stakeholders selected from three rural areas in South Africa and analysed through thematic analysis. According to the stakeholders interviewed, there are some barriers that exist in the community that impede access to health. Reusults: These are limited or lack of health care facilities and personnel, shortages of medicine, distrust in the health care providers, opening hours of health care facilities and financial constraints, which resulted in the perceived poor health status of the people in those rural areas. Conclusion: This study calls for multifaceted health care reforms and strategies to address infrastructure deficiencies, human resources and medicine shortages to ensure equitable provision of high-quality public services. These strategies or measures must be tailored to the specific needs of rural communities.

Videoconferencing and Dietitian Services: In Rural Ontario Communities

2012 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-180
Author(s):  
Diana Stenlund
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Access To Health

Registered dietitians (RDs) are regulated health professionals in short supply in Ontario and throughout Canada. Projected workforce studies indicate the situation will likely worsen. Accessing these nutrition specialists is an even greater concern for residents living in rural or remote regions of the province. Smaller communities are increasingly using telehealth as a way to deliver health care services and to improve access to health care professionals. The adoption of interactive videoconferencing as a telehealth application is examined as an alternative approach for accessing RDs in rural communities. While valid reasons exist for implementing videoconferencing, other issues must be considered. These include costs, technological requirements, organizational readiness, and legal and ethical concerns. Future research must fully address the concept of videoconferencing in relation to the Canadian dietetic workforce and practice requirements.

Tantalus and the Tyranny of Territory: Pursuing the dream of parity in rural and metropolitan population health outcomes through primary health care programs

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Rural Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Rural And Urban

Many health professionals and rural health academics are motivated by the challenge of achieving equitable access to health care in rural communities with the implicit vision that fairer access to services might ultimately lead to more equitable health outcomes for people living in rural and remote settings. The purpose of this paper is to put the issue of rural and urban health outcome parity into perspective and assess recent progress towards achieving the ultimate goal of improving rural health status. I will also explore ways in which rural communities might increase their access to and use of primary health care revenue in the future to improve community health outcomes. While some improvements have been achieved across the rural health system in recent times, the fundamental problem of maintaining infrastructure to service community needs in rural areas remains as daunting as ever. Extensive evidence has now been assembled to show that rural people generally enjoy a much lower standard of health care, health outcomes and life expectancy than their urban cousins. The question underlying all of this evidence, however, is... must this always be so? Is it possible to redress the current inequities between rural and urban populations and could new primary health care initiatives, such as the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program, be vehicles for achieving more equitable health care arrangements and health outcomes for people living in rural communities?

‘It really saves us’versus‘it doesn't cover everything’: the benefits and limitations of a non-contributory pension in the Bolivian Altiplano

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-44
Author(s):  
RACHEL GODFREY-WOOD ◽  
GRACIELA MAMANI-VARGAS
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Integral Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology

ABSTRACTNon-contributory pensions have become extremely popular in the last decade, with 78 developing countries currently distributing money in this way, and their acclaimed impacts are increasingly celebrated. Studies have found them to contribute not only to ‘obvious’ needs such as increased consumption and income security but also to investments in productivity, social relationships, health, increased access to credit and savings, while it has become common to claim that they contribute to intangible goals such as dignity and citizenship. The danger of some of these claims is that they assume that wellbeing is heavily responsive to monetary wealth, rather than other areas. To study this, an ethnographic methodology, based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews, was employed in two rural communities located in the La Paz department in the highland Altiplano region of Bolivia close to Lake Titicaca. Our analysis shows that while the Renta Dignidad increases older persons’ livelihood security, its contributions to other areas where non-contributory pensions are claimed to have major impacts, such as productive investment, health care and relational wellbeing, are actually relatively limited. The policy implication of this is that a more integral approach needs to be adopted to older persons' wellbeing, going beyond cash transfers to greater efforts to bring health-care services to older people in remote rural areas.

scholarly journals HUMAN RIGHTS AND ACCESS TO COVID-19 VACCINES IN RURAL SOUTH AFRICA: THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-644
Author(s):  
John Cantius Mubangizi ◽  
Betty Claire Mubangizi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
The Right

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of local government in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly concerning access to COVID-19 vaccines. This is done by first looking at the local government institution as a concept while highlighting its centrality in managing disasters and pandemics. The article then draws on literature to show the challenges and complexities faced by the local government as an institution and how these challenges combine to significantly affect the capacity of local government’s performance in rural areas generally and during the COVID-19 pandemic specifically. The discussion is then narrowed to the role of local government in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines with specific reference to rural areas in South Africa. The discussion adopts a human rights perspective by considering equitable distribution, access to information, the right to health care services, and the right to emergency medical treatment. Other relevant constitutional rights such as equality, human dignity, and life are also discussed or mentioned. The article concludes with recommendations on how the role of local government in facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccines for rural communities can be enhanced, including adopting an intersectional human rights-based approach in the rollout of such vaccines. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that COVID-19 is a new disease. Its vaccines have been recently and quickly developed; hence issues of access, human rights, and the role of local government are critical, particularly in rural settings.

scholarly journals Barriers to Access Health Care Services among Rural Adolescent Girls in Raina I Block, Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Mousumi Dholey ◽  
Sumana Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Quality Health Care ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Rural Adolescent

Adolescence in girls is a crucial transition phase during which they experience biological and psychological changes along with changes in social outlook. This phase provides an opportunity to lay the foundation for their future health. But, in rural areas, adolescent girls are often deprived of better nutrition and proper health care guide, resulting in serious health issues like malnutrition, stunting, wasting, and anaemia. Moreover, their access to health care services is subjected to various constraints as infrastructural and societal barriers such as regressive norms, social stigma, gendered family structure, etc. Thus, the present study attempts to explore the perceived barriers that prevent rural adolescent girls from accessing health care services at the micro-level. A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out after randomly selecting 120 adolescent girls in the age cohort of 10-19 years in the Raina-I block of Purba Bardhaman district. The results suggested that societal barriers have a significant influence over health-related decision-making. Besides, lack of quality health care services and economic burden are some of the other significant obstacles observed here.

scholarly journals DOES THE RIGHT TO ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN TERMS OF SECTION 27 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1996 CATER FOR CANCER PATIENTS?

Obiter ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Maimela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Cancer Patient ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Right To Health Care ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Right

Does the right to health care services as provided in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, cater for cancer patients due to the expensive nature of cancer treatment and, if so, to what extent? One of the major socio-economic rights which cancer patients struggle to access is the right to health care services, which is currently dependent on the economic or financial position of a cancer patient, which is, unfortunately, the deciding factor in South Africa as well the entire continent of Africa. The financial or economic standing of a patient or a cancer patient, in this case, will determine if the patient will receive adequate cancer treatment or not. Does the economic or financial position of the cancer patient serve as a valid and justifiable reason for the right to access to health care services to the 75 per cent of people in South Africa who rely on public health care services for different health deformities that include cancer and, if so, to what extent?

scholarly journals The Role of Communities of Residence on Older Mexican Adults’ Likelihood of High Depressive Symptoms

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 925-926
Author(s):  
Paige Downer ◽  
Rebeca Wong
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Mexican Adults

Abstract Exposure to population- and individual-level poverty, poor health, and negative life-events contributes to overall life adversity that may increase older adults risk of depression. We hypothesize that increased neighborhood-level multidimensional poverty and decreased proportions of within-neighborhood health promoting socio-demographic characteristics will be positively associated with depression among older Mexican adults. This study uses data from Wave 1 (2001) and Wave 3 (2012) of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). Wave 1 will be used for information for socio-demographic characteristics, including gender, female-headed households, rural settings, and employment status. Wave 3 will be used for information on self-reported depressive symptoms. Information for neighborhood characteristics will come from the 2000 Mexican Census that has been linked with the 2001 MHAS wave. Older Mexican adult’s exposure to multidimensional poverty at the locality (city/town) level will be measured by the proportion of the population aged 15 and older with low education; the proportion of the population with low access to health care services; the percentage of homes with inferior construction materials; and the proportion of the population without sewage and running water. A multivariable logistic regression will be used to model the association between older Mexican adult’s neighborhood and community characteristics in 2001 on depression in 2012. The expected findings will inform government policies to increase access to affordable housing, the availability of health care services, educational and employment opportunities, and public infrastructures such as transportation, water, and sanitation services, and energy services to reduce mental health burden.

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