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.

These include:

• they are not optimally used by managers and other health workers
• they are not well understood by managers and health workers
• they are sometimes not standardised
• the data elements on which they are based are not always clear
• the data elements on which they are based are sometimes complex
• the definitions of the indicators are not always clear
• there are too many indicators.

In an attempt to demystify the indicators and to make them more accessible to managers of facilities and to those at higher levels of the system who support facility managers, this booklet has taken the top ten key indicators based on routine facility information and has unpacked them. It is hoped that this publication will make these indicators more easily understandable, will promote greater use of these indicators and will therefore ultimately play a role in improving their quality.