District Health Board

Health Systems Trust launches 2nd District Health Barometer

http://www.hst.org.za/publications/701
The highest per capita primary health care expenditure in the public sector by a district in South Africa during 2005/06 was R416 per person in Bophirima district in the North West province. This is in stark contrast to the lowest rate of R115 per person spent in Greater Sekhukhune, a relatively deprived district in Limpopo province.

Intern District Health Barometer Project

Closing date for applications: 02 February 2007

We are seeking to appoint an Intern on a one year fixed-term contract to assist with the District Health Barometer (DHB) project and the HealthLink Cluster with respect to providing effective, accurate and useful health systems information.

The District Health Barometer Year 1. January-December 2004.

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust

The District Health Barometer (DHB) is a collection of health indicators which presents a snapshot of how well the health districts in South Africa provide primary health care to the population. These indicators do not provide any form of complex analysis or in-depth research, yet they point to districts that need improvement and support and likewise to those districts that are doing well. They show how districts are performing relative to one another and relative to their province and the national average.Using the District Health Barometer (DHB), comparisons can now be made between the six metropolitan districts, between the 13 rural node districts or between any districts that are of a similar socio-economic status and size. The purpose of this first District Health Barometer is to function as a tool to monitor progress and support improvement of equitable provision of primary health care, as well as to highlight data irregularities and errors that may occur in the collection and collation of data available in the national District Health Information System. The District Health Barometer Year 1, uses the population figures from the DHIS which are closely based on the Census 1996 and Census 2001 data. In both sets of census data there has been an under-estimation of the number of children under 5 years old. The Department of Health are working together with StatsSA to provide accurate and official population estimates of children under 5 years in each district, and hope to have this work completed by March 2006. These estimates affect especially the immunisation indicators. The next District Health Barometer, which should be available by the end of 2006, will show the corrected immunisation and population figures for 2004 and 2005.

District Health Barometer - Current HST activities related to the DHB concept

The HST is currently involved in a number of activities which relate to the DHB, which will provide some baseline infrastructure, expertise and linkages. These include: