Publications
HST provides free electronic access to over 500 health systems research related reports, publications and papers. Close to 300 of these are publications that have been commissioned and funded by the Trust. Topics include among others district systems development, drug supply management, human resource development, informatics, legislation, finance, environmental health, mental health, lessons learnt, nutrition and sexually transmitted diseases / HIV/AIDS. The main publication of the HST is the annual South African Health Review. From 2005 all HST publications will be available in low resolution only. To explore the range of publications HST offers use the Advanced search to search using a variety of criteria.

To establish a baseline from which to measure the impact of these improvements over time, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, in June 1994, commissioned this national household health survey, the first of its kind in South Africa. The Foundation plans to regularly repeat this survey to provide a reliable monitor of progress.

A nationally representative sample of 4,000 households was drawn and the data weighted to the universe of 7,594,000 households in South Africa and for the universe of each age category, taking into account the distribution of households within provinces, population groups and environment such as metro, urban or rural. The survey was coordinated by the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) and the questionnaire administered by Market Research Africa.

The questionnaire and data analysis were reviewed by a specially convened panel of reviewers in South Africa and the United States (see Appendix A and B). In addition, the questionnaire was pre-tested in a series of 10 focus groups, representative of different race groups and population categories, such as the elderly and disabled.

The questionnaire focused on the public health environment barriers in access to health care and perceptions of quality and satisfaction with the outcome of health care. In addition, a series of sentinel indicators of health status and health information were identified.