Health Systems Trust launches 2nd District Health Barometer
HST
2007-06-04
 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.
Ekurhuleni, a bustling metropolitan district in Gauteng with some 2,5 million
people is ranked second lowest in the country when looking at its average number
of visits (1.2) per person per year to a public health facility. This primary
health care utilisation rate reflects if the injection of resources into the
district health system and primary health care over the last few years has had
an effect on improving accessibility and quality and thus encourages an increase
in usage. Central Karoo, with a population of just over 62 000, increased its
utilisation rate to 4.5 visits per persons annually, ranking it as the highest
in South Africa.
The average TB cure rate in South Africa deteriorated from 56,7% in 2003 to
50.8% in 2004, showing a wide variation across the districts, ranging from a
high of 84.5% in Overberg to a low of 12% in Nkangala, although the TB smear
conversion rate showed improvement from 46.6% in 2004 to 50.5 % in 2005.
These and other key health indicators and district health profiles for the
12-month period ending March 2006, are detailed in the Health Systems Trust's
2005/06 District Health Barometer (DHB) report which was released on 8 February.
The DHB was developed in collaboration with the National Department of Health
and other stakeholders. It is an innovation aimed at improving the understanding
and measurement of health services and health equity throughout the country,
by providing a snapshot of the overall performance of the health sector across
the all the health districts and provinces in South Africa.
The main purpose of the report is to monitor progress and support the improvement
of equitable provision of primary health care by:
- Collecting and analysing key health system indicators at district level
- Ranking , classifying and analysing health districts (in various groupings
e.g. metropolitan districts, rural development districts, provinces), on the
basis of these indicators, and
- Comparing these indicators over time.
The data used in the report is obtained from the District Health Information
System, the financial management information system and other sources such as
the National TB Register and the Census 2001.
Straightforward analyses and colourful representation of a carefully selected
range of health indicators in league tables and maps, facilitates identification
of problem areas and the corresponding corrective measures. Inequities between
rural and urban areas are addressed throughout the report
For our prime target audience, the managers at national, provincial and district
level, we hope that the DHB will assist with strategic planning purposes, with
monitoring and evaluation of district performance and health service delivery
and with more equitable resource allocation.
We trust that the DHB will also address the needs of users such as politicians
and policy makers, with the graphic and pictorial representation allowing a
clear presentation and thus an understanding of issues of quality and equity
in the health sector. Other sectors, such as Treasury, the academic sector and
the international health community will also be able to gain greater insight
into the performance of health sector at district level.
The DHB is freely available and can be downloaded from the HST website: http://www.hst.org.za/publications/701
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