University of the Western Cape

The School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape is a WHO Collaborating Centre, and has an international reputation as a leading research and teaching institution in Public Health. Its educational and research activities are wide-ranging, with a special focus on health systems research, primary health care, social determinants of health, priority conditions (including TB/HIV and chronic disease) and the implementation of district health systems. The School’s distance learning postgraduate programme, offered through a range of learning media, is unique in Southern Africa.

Call for expressions of interest from African policy-­‐makers and mid to senior level managers in the public health system in a short-­‐term (one to three month) sabbatical opportunity with the CHESAI project

CHESAI is a four-­‐year collaborative endeavour between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Schools of Public Health, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). We are academic organizations engaged in research and policy development with health system decision-­‐makers on a range of health policy and systems’ issues, and also offer teaching programmes in these fields.

A total of four Postdoctoral Fellowships are available in the area of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) within the Collaboration for Health Systems Analysis and Innovation (CHESAI) project, over the period 2012-2016.

CHESAI is a four year collaborative endeavour between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Western Cape (UWC), Schools of Public Health, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Over the life of CHESAI a total of four Postdoctoral Fellowships are available in the area of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) for the Collaboration for Health Systems Analysis and Innovation (CHESAI) research project, over the period 2012-2016. This call is for TWO such Fellowships to commence January 2013.

Child mortality rates have slowly come down, although they are still significantly high. Health experts say this is attributed to huge inequalities that exist in accessing health care.

According to health experts at a Peoples’ Health Movement conference in Cape Town, last week, poverty and high unemployment rates are some of the barriers that prevent people from accessing quality health care. Director of the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape, Professor Dave Saunders, says child mortality in South Africa is still high and it has a direct link to the levels of unemployment and rising poverty.

As South Africa moves towards universal healthcare, health policy experts warn that the country has grossly underestimated the number of health workers it will need to ensure access to health services for everyone.

Although the policy is still being formulated, the proposed move to institute a national health insurance (NHI) programme will be accompanied by a re-engineering of primary healthcare services.

The Department of Health will go ahead with the National Health Insurance Scheme despite possible challenges from the private sector.

Director-general in the department Malebo Precious Matsoso yesterday said it was “not morally justifiable to deny (poor) people healthcare” by approaching the courts.

She said that those planning a legal challenge should come up with a moral argument as to why they would not want the NHI implemented in South Africa.

Matsoso was one of the panelists on a discussion on universal health coverage at the ongoing third People’s Health Assembly held at the University of the Western Cape.

Speaking at the third People’s Health Assembly at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) the National Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said that the first few years of the National Health Insurance (NHI) system would be dedicated to building the foundation phase.

Motsoaledi explained: “In South Africa, the next five years will be dedicated to building the foundations of the NHI system. This includes strengthening the public health system, which we have started to do.

“Practically, this means improving the management, improving the availability of medicines and other commodities, providing good quality health care, ensuring that health care providers are well trained and committed to providing the best care possible.

South Africa needs to urgently look to countries such as Rwanda, Thailand and Brazil, where they have employed community health workers (CHWs) to deliver a range of primary health care services that dramatically reduced mortality, public health expert Professor David Sanders told the National Health Assembly (NHA).

Speaking during yesterday’s (THURS) plenary session, Sanders said by extending the scope of what CHWs could do and by supporting properly selected and trained individuals, the country could make a very real impact on maternal and child mortality.