The District Health Barometer (DHB), was developed by the Health Systems Trust (HST) in response to a need for accessible management information in South Africa. The DHB provides a snapshot of the overall performance of the public health sector across the provinces and health districts in South Africa by means of an annual publication. The DHB, which has been available on an annual basis since 2005 and which draws data from the District Health Information System (DHIS), StatsSA, the National Treasury (BAS data) and the national TB register, seeks to highlight inequities in health outcomes, health resource allocation and outputs as well as track the efficiency of health processes between provinces and between all districts in the country, with particular emphasis on rural and urban (metropolitan) districts.
The report also functions as a tool to monitor progress towards strategic health goals such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to support the improvement of provision of primary health care and the improvement of the quality of routinely collected health data. The analysis and comparison of health and socioeconomic indicators between districts (across provinces) in the DHB, assists in identifying successes, gaps and potential corrective measures within the health system.
The DHB is guided by an advisory committee made up of managers from the Departments of Health at national, provincial and district level, and also includes experts and stakeholders from the academic and research arenas.
The indicators chosen are all based on secondary data that are either readily available, or on available raw data
that needed manipulation. Where the data are not publicly available, such as with the DHIS and Treasury data,
HST has requested and received written permission to use the data.