Introducing the Initiative for Sub-District Support

What's behind this initiative?

Primary health care is accepted as the foundation of our health system. And districts are the vehicles through which primary health care will be supported and managed. But we cannot simply assume that putting district structures in place will automatically improve the standard of primary health care. For health care to improve dramatically in South Africa, there still needs to be a deliberate injection of effort and energy right at the site of service delivery.

Ultimately of course, this is the responsibility of the Department of Health. The ISDS will try to demonstrate innovative ways of supporting health providers, which hopefully will become incorporated into government strategies for all sub-districts over time. For this to happen, the ISDS needs to be a partnership between government and non-government organisations, both locally and nationally.