South Africa

The public health sector works to: promote health, prevent illness and injury, and influence the socio-economic and environmental determinants of health – including the social, economic, physical and environmental
factors that affect health. [from authors]

This strategic plan therefore, contributes to South Africa’s efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality and to control communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as, in its efforts to encourage South Africans to embrace healthy lifestyle. [from introduction]

This pocket card, created with input from the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Men’s and Women’s Sectors, is designed to build support for a gender-integrated microbicides rollout among both community members and policy makers. [from introduction]

The intention of this study was not to particularly engage issues of health worker brain drain and migration, but to reveal some of those elements which can motivate and retain health-related professionals in South Africa. [from abstract]

This analysis examines this issue of performance and attrition in [voluntary medical male circumcision] programs by looking descriptively at job-fulfillment and burnout. [from introduction]

The overview involved a synthesis and review of recent data and information from key
national representative peer reviewed articles and grey literature from the National Department of
Health and related stakeholder reports. [from abstract]

The purpose of this contribution is to analyse and explain the South African HRH case, its
historical evolution, and post-apartheid reform initiatives aimed at addressing deficiencies
and shortfalls. [from abstract]

Theory of Change (ToC) approach workshops are a useful approach for developing ToCs as a basis for mental health care plans because they facilitate logical, evidence based and contextualised plans, while promoting stakeholder buy in.
Because of the existing hierarchies within some health systems, strategies such as limiting the types of participants
and stratifying the workshops can be used to ensure productive workshops.

The objective of this study was to explore what the implementation of the [Ukwanda Rural Clinical School] meant for the practice of these physicians and to what extent the shift from full-time practising clinician to clinical teacher required them to adapt and change. [from abstract]

To explore the key human resource (HR) practices affecting doctors in a medical complex in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. [from abstract]

“Community Based Education in Health Professions: Global Perspectives” presents a collection of case studies from Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, Pakistan and South Africa describing different ways of planning, implementing and sustaining community-based education for health students. The case studies provide an account of what worked and what did not, the trials and errors, and the challenges and lessons learned. [adapted from introduction]

This study’s objectives were to investigate the implementation of tuberculosis (TB) infection control measures at primary healthcare facilities, the smear positive TB incidence rate amongst primary healthcare workers and the association between TB infection control measures and all types of TB in healthcare workers. [from abstract]

In a context of inadequate human resources for health, this study investigated whether traditional healers have the knowledge and skill base which could be utilized to assist in the scaling up of HIV prevention and treatment services in South Africa. [from abstract]

This strategy is the result of a task team on nursing education appointed to refine national concerns and recommendations and to develop a plan of action to address both education and practice issues related to the profession. [adapted from author]

This report is the result of research undertaken in South Africa to review community and home-based care, especially in regards to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. The research highlights the important roles played by caregivers in health promotion programs, counselling and testing, client advocacy, stigma mitigation and community mobilization. [adapted from author]

This study describes the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of tuberculosis (TB) program personnel involved with tracing activities as part of a national pilot project in South Africa, the TB Tracer Project, which aims to decrease default rates and improve patient outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

Since 2007 a portfolio of learning has become a requirement for assessment of postgraduate family medicine training by the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate the portfolio’s acceptability, educational impact, and perceived usefulness for assessment of competence. [from abstract]

Rural health training programs for health professionals have been slow to develop in low- and middle-income countries, and the impact of clinical leadership is under-researched in such settings. This report lists recommendations focused on supporting local rural clinical academic leaders; training health professionals for leadership roles in rural settings; and advancing the clinical academic leadership agenda through advocacy and research. [adapted from abstract]

This paper reports the findings of a process evaluation of a controlled trial of PITC for people with sexually transmitted infections attending publicly funded clinics in a low-resource setting in South Africa, where the trial results were lower than anticipated compared to the standard voluntary counselling and testing approach. [from abstract]

This study investigates the causes of migration focusing on the role of salaries and benefits. Health professionals from public, private and non-governmental health facilities located in selected peri-urban and urban areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa were surveyed about their current positions and attitudes toward migration. [from abstract]

This study piloted home-based counseling and testing with point-of-care CD4 count testing and follow-up visits from lay counselors to facilitate linkage of HIV-infected persons to local HIV clinics and uptake of antiretroviral treatment in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

The main objective of this study was to document the prevalence and disease spectrum of latex allergy, a common occupational disease among healthcare workers who use latex gloves, at Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province, South Africa. [adapted from author]

This report is an evaluation of integrated management of childhood illness, a strategy to reduce mortality and morbidity in children under 5 years by improving health workers’ case management of common and serious illnesses at primary health care level, in two provinces of South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This paper describes the rural clinical attachment experiences of medical students, illustrates that forces affecting such experiences cannot be predicted readily, and highlights that a rural clinical attachment can be of value, irrespective of whether or not the student chooses to practice in a rural area. [from author]

The objectives of this paper are to identify the factors associated with higher knowledge and confidence in providers at the commencement of a training on post-rape care and to reflect on the implications of this for training and other efforts being made to improve services. [from abstract]

This study evaluated a targeted brief antiretroviral (ART) campaign among health workers that used quality improvement health systems approaches to significantly improve access to ART for HIV-infected pregnant women across a large health district in South Africa. [adapted from author]

This study measured the impact of integration of HIV care into primary care during a randomized controlled trial of task shifting and decentralization of HIV care in South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This study aims to make the labour market visible for histopathologists and identify the reasons for sector switching of clinical doctors. [adpated from abstract]

The aim of this study was to formatively evaluate a 12-week, completely online module from a South African university for medical specialists in their first year of training; assessing both the mode of delivery as well as the perceived effectiveness and usefulness. [adapted from abstract]

This article examines three South African community health worker programs, a small local non-governmental organisation, a local satellite of a national NGO, and a government-initiated service, that provide a range of services from home-based care, childcare, and health promotion to assist clients in overcoming poverty-related barriers to health care to identify factors that constrain and enable outreach services to improve access to care. [from abstract]