scholarly journals Changes in the provision of health care in South Africa

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Luiz ◽  
M. Wessels
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Current Structure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Healthcare Market

Health care in South Africa is undergoing substantial changes with rising pressure on both the public and private sectors. Medical inflation has been soaring rendering healthcare increasingly unaffordable and medical schemes have had to adapt their traditional business models. This paper looks at the current structure of the healthcare market; it examines the new legislation introduced by government, and assesses future directions of healthcare in South Africa.

OP92 Addressing Challenges Of Implementing A Health Technology Assessment Framework In South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 41-42
Author(s):  
Jani Mueller
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Technologies

INTRODUCTION:South Africa is in the process of providing comprehensive health insurance to all its citizens, thus paving the pathway for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to play a significant role in provision of safe and effective healthcare. The National Department of Health (DoH) has a published framework and Health Technology Act and strategies since the 1990s to improve health outcomes, and service and delivery of care. The purpose of this study is to explore challenges faced in the implementation of the framework and policies.METHODS:The study will be based on review and analysis of health technology policies and legislations introduced in South Africa since the 1990s. These documents are available from the DoH archive. The review from this grey literature was supplemented by information collected from a self-completion questionnaire, which was distributed to key stakeholders. Respondents were identified by direct contact with ministries of health and professional bodies, and included health professionals from the public and private healthcare sector, for example, practitioners, experts from hospitals, and industry representatives. The questionnaire addressed issues pertaining to decision making regarding health service delivery and the status of HTA in the country.RESULTS:The framework lays out the strategy to facilitate appropriate utilization of health technologies and includes among others, an HTA section. Fragmented use of HTA or parts thereof has been observed in the public and private health care sector. Furthermore, the respondents pointed out that decisions on health technology can be political, institutional or professionally driven whereas they all agreed that a formal and institutional implementation of HTA would improve healthcare service.CONCLUSIONS:The goal to achieve universal health care provides an excellent window of opportunity for formal use of HTA in policy- and decision-making. However, (i) the inadequate number of trained professionals and education and training opportunities (ii) lack of awareness and understanding of the principles of HTA and its impact on the improvement of health care are among the many challenges faced by the system. It has also been observed that national and regional champions can act as change agents and would have a snowball effect.

scholarly journals COVID-19, psychosocial issues, politics, and public mental health care

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-303
Author(s):  
Anthony L Pillay ◽  
Anne L Kramers-Olen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Mental Health Policy ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Public Mental Health Care

The COVID-19 pandemic heralded challenges that were both significant and unfamiliar, placing inordinate burdens on health care systems, economies, and the collective psyche of citizens. The pandemic underscored the tenuous intersections between public mental health care, politics, economics, and psychosocial capital. In South Africa, the inadequacies of the public health system have been laid bare, and the disproportionate privileges of the private health care system exposed. This article critically considers government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychosocial correlates of lockdown, politics, corruption, and public mental health policy in South Africa.

Equity in the use of antiretroviral treatment in the public health care system in urban South Africa

Health Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Cleary ◽  
Sheetal Silal ◽  
Stephen Birch ◽  
Henri Carrara ◽  
Victoria Pillay-van Wyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Antiretroviral Treatment ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Public Health Care System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Urban South ◽  
Care System

Financial Access to Care Does Not Guarantee Better Care for Children

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 506-508
Author(s):  
Arthur F. Kohrman
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Access To Care ◽  
Health Care Reform ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Financial Access ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Care System

The thoughtful and cautionary pieces by Newacheck et al1 and Perrin et al2 remind us of how much we have achieved in piecing together care for vulnerable children, how far there is yet to go, and how the transition to the long-overdue health care reform might worsen, rather than improve our present arrangements. In the absence of a rational, planned care system for children, especially for those who are poor or who require extensive services, pediatricians and child advocates in both the public and private sectors have managed to cobble together at least the possibility of decent services for large numbers of children, with some payment to those who provide those services.

Utilization of Primary Health Services in Hong Kong

2015 ◽  
pp. 1159-1176
Author(s):  
Raymond K. H. Chan ◽  
Kang Hu
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Primary Health Services

This chapter analyzes the issue of primary health care utilization in Hong Kong and introduces the case of Hong Kong where a special division between public and private sectors has developed in the field of primary health services. The chapter argues that in the foreseeable future, it is likely that the division of health care between the public and private sector will be maintained. In recent years, more and more individuals and families have purchased private health insurance so as to gain more options. The idea of universal health insurance was rejected by the public in recent consultations; the current alternative is government-regulated private insurance. Although private primary health services will continue as usual in the near future, public primary health services should be maintained or even expanded. Given the costliness of private services (especially specialist services), it is recommended that more resources should be invested in corresponding public health services.

Privacy Concerns for Ubiquitous Data Aggregation and Storage

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarrod M. Rifkind ◽  
Seymour E. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Business Models ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Party ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World

Information technology has drastically changed the ways in which individuals are accounted for and monitored in societies. Over the past two decades, the United States and other countries worldwide have seen a tremendous increase in the number of individuals with access to the Internet. Data collected by the World Bank shows that 17.5 of every 100 people in the world had access to the Internet in 2006, and this number increased to 23.2 in 2008, 29.5 in 2010, and 32.8 in 2011 (World Bank 2012). According to the latest Cisco traffic report, Internet traffic exceeded 30 exabytes (1018 bytes) per month in 2011 and is expected to reach a zettabyte (1021 bytes) per month by 2015 (Cisco Systems 2011). Activities on the Web are no longer limited to seemingly noncontroversial practices like e-mail. The sheer growth of the Internet as a medium for communication and information sharing as well as the development of large, high-performance data centers have made it easier and less expensive for companies and governments to aggregate large amounts of data generated by individuals. Today, many people’s personal lives can be pieced together relatively easily according to their search histories and the information that they provide on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, technological breakthroughs associated with computing raise important questions regarding information security and the role of privacy in society. As individuals begin using the Internet for e-commerce, e-government, and a variety of other services, data about their activities has been collected and stored by entities in both the public and private sectors. For the private sector, consumer activities on the Internet provide lucrative information about user spending habits that can then be used to generate targeted advertisements. Companies have developed business models that rely on the sale of such information to third-party entities, whether they are other companies or the federal government. As for the public sector, data collection occurs through any exchange a government may have with its citizens.

scholarly journals Work as a central life interest for legal professionals

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Genis ◽  
Taryn Wallis
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Work Centrality ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Two Sectors

Dubin’s theory of Central Life Interests (CLIs) was used to investigate whether work is a CLI for legal professionals in South Africa. The research also served as a comparative exploration between the public and private sectors based on their work centrality and work orientation. 59 employees from three public sector organisations and 27 employees from various private sector law firms completed questionnaires. Contrary to Dubin’s theory, results indicated that two-thirds of respondents did not have work as a CLI. Also, contrary to previous work on private and public sector employees, some interesting similarities emerged between the two sectors. Opsomming Dubin (1992) se teorie van Sentrale Lewensbelangstellings was gebruik om te ondersoek of werk ’n sentrale lewensbelangstelling is vir individue in die Suid-Afrikaanse regsprofessie. Die navorsing was ook ’n vergelykende ondersoek tussen die publieke en privaat sektore met betrekking tot hul werk sentraliteit en werk orientasie. 59 werknemers van drie publieke organisasies en 27 werknemers van verskeie privaat firmas het vraelyse beantwoord. Teenstellig met Dubin se teorie het resultate gewys dat vir twee-derdes van die deelnemers werk nie ’n sentrale lewensbelangstelling was nie. Daar was ook interessante resultate wat te voorskyn gekom het, wat teenstrydig was met vorige navorsing op werknemers in die privaat en publieke sektore.

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