An analysis of South African district health system interaction using an improvement framework.
Date
2019
Authors
Stoop, Eduan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
South Africa currently has a knowledge gap for assessing the effect of its district health system.
By conducting an assessment of the current state of the district health management structures,
this research aims to understand the interactions between the district and the various levels of
the South African health system. The work presented is a starting point to understanding key
areas of health system management structures in order to address the current knowledge gap in
South Africa. Semi-structured interviews and thematic content analysis were chosen as the
preferred method for data collection and analysis. The key themes that emerged included the
lack of authority provided to the management at district level, the communication gap across
all levels and human resources capacity issues within the system. The assessment of the
research districts against the research frameworks ties into these three themes. A major
observation from the analysis is the differing abilities of districts to address inherent issues due
to the constraints faced within and outside the systems. Furthermore, the need to ensure
standardisation of the district system is required to mitigate this difference. In conclusion, this
research provides a potential starting point for further research into the district health care
system and determines that changes in the delegation of authority could have the potential to
streamline processes and information transfer within the district system.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University
of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in
Engineering.
Keywords
Citation
Stoop, Eduan (2019) An analysis of South African District Health System interaction using an improvement framework, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/30388>