By: Lunga Memela (Communication Engagement Lead)
Congratulations to Natasha Esau from HST's Health Systems Research Unit for her recent publication in the BMC Health Services Research journal. She completed her Master of Public Health (M.PH) degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2018. As part of her M.PH thesis she conducted a study evaluating a 'training-of-trainers programme for clinic committees' in a South African district, and was supervised by Professors René English (Stellenbosch University) and Maylene Shung-King (University of Cape Town).
Natasha Esau
The National Health Act (2003) mandates provincial health departments to establish clinic committees to provide governance oversight at Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities. This study evaluated a training programme called the 'PHC Facility Governance Structures Trainer-of-Facilitator (ToF) Learning Programme'. The ToF learning programme was a collaboration between HST and the National Department of Health (NDoH) aimed at capacitating clinic committees in order to fulfil this role.
The study assessed whether the intended aims of the training programme were clearly conveyed by the trainers, and how participants understood and subsequently conveyed the training programme intentions' to the clinic committees.
The study found that despite the different perceptions and understandings of the ToF Learning Programme, its overall aims were achieved. The capacity of the trainees was confirmed to have been strengthened, and the clinic committees were trained accordingly. The study concludes that "the training programme holds promise for possible national scale-up. The high quality of the interactive posters can be considered equally valuable as a training tool as the training manuals."
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Supervisors: René English and Maylene Shung-King