Which primary care model? A qualitative analysis of ward-based outreach teams in South Africa.

Globally, models of extending universal health coverage through primary care are influenced by country-specific systems of health care and disease management. In 2015 a rapid assessment of the ward-based outreach component of primary care reengineering was commissioned to understand implementation and rollout challenges. AIM: This article aims to describe middle- and lower-level managers' understanding of ward-based outreach teams (WBOTs) and the problems of authority, jurisdiction and practical functioning that arise from the way the model is constructed and has been operationalised. SETTING: Data are drawn from a rapid assessment of National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot sites in seven provinces. METHODS: The study used a modified version of CASCADE. Peer-review teams of public health researchers and district/sub-district managers collected data in two sites per province between March and July 2015. RESULTS: Respondents unequivocally support the strategy to extend primary health care services to people in their homes and communities both because it is responsive to the family context of individual health and because it reaches marginal people. They, however, identify critical issues that arise from basing WBOTs in facilities, including unspecific team leadership, inadequate supervision, poorly constituted teams, limited community reach and serious infrastructural and material under-provision. CONCLUSION: Many of the shortcomings of a facility-based extension model can be addressed by an independently resourced, geographic, community-based model of fully constituted teams that are clinically and organisationally supported in an integrated district health system. However, a community-oriented primary care approach will still have to grapple with overarching framework problems.

Changing sexual behaviour to reduce HIV transmission - a multi-faceted approach to HIV prevention and treatment in a rural South African setting.

This community household survey undertaken in Melmoth, a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, investigated the influence of cumulative exposure of complementary interventions by a non-governmental organisation, LoveLife which aimed to bring changes in beliefs about HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment, and to reduce sexual risk behaviour. Amongst the 1294 respondents (15-40 years of age) increasing the number of exposures to different LoveLife interventions included use of television and radio messages, billboards, a free monthly magazine for youth, special school sports and community events, involvement of youth peer educators, and support for schools through classroom programmes and by linking clinic staff and peer educators. Cumulative exposure to LoveLife interventions resulted in more respondents believing that HIV could be prevented (p<0.005) and treated (p=0.007) and that people should test for HIV (p=0.03). Half of the respondents reported using a condom at last sex and cumulative exposure to LoveLife was associated with increased condom use (p<0.005). However, despite exposure to LoveLife, only 41.9% respondents had ever tested for HIV and cumulative exposure to LoveLife did not significantly influence respondents going to hospital for anti-retroviral treatment. The dose-response effect of cumulative LoveLife exposure appeared to have a positive influence on some beliefs and practices, but did not discriminate the extent of LoveLife exposure nor exposure to other HIV/AIDS interventions.

A transition in health status from childhood to adulthood and associated lifestyle risk factors: a 13-year interval follow-up study in South Africa.

South Africa is a developing country that also has developed aspects and as a result, has to cope with issues related to both worlds. There has been a definite change in the global patterns of diseases from a situation dominated by infectious diseases to a predominance of non-communicable diseases where the risk factors are largely associated with lifestyle. Results from a follow-up study were used to investigate a transition in health status of the study sample. Questionnaires were used in this historical cohort study, which reviews the health status and lifestyle aspects of young adults who participated as children in the Vaal Triangle Air Pollution Health Study (VAPS) during 1990. In general, the study sample had a higher prevalence of chronic diseases compared to the general South African population. Findings indicate that the transition in health status recorded elsewhere in the world can be demonstrated in this South African group.