A critical analysis of the South African health policies and programmes with regard to eye health promotion

Sithole, H. L.

doi:10.1093/eurpub/cku165.119

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 226 publications

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“…The problems in health care go beyond the situation in hospitals and clinics and extend towards the auxiliary services as well. Sithole (2013) for instance points out that South Africa has a serious burden of eye diseases and unwarranted causes of visual impairment and blindness. The policy documents and guidelines obtained on ophthalmic care had no specific reference to eye health promotion.…”

Section: Professional Critiquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical Personnel in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Nexus between Political Change and Migration

Singh¹

2019

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This paper is based on research that provides an overview of the factors that encourage international migration among medical workers from Sub-Saharan Africa. Through a brief insight into Sub-Saharan Africa and an in-depth view of working conditions in one of South Africa's city's hospitals (Durban) we are able to appreciate what spurs on the urge to migrate northwards. The choice of these two categories rests with how the dynamics of transformation and equity policies are manifesting more than two decades after the country's first general election. In viewing their qualifications as an enabling factor in their mobility, the discussion here locates the actual experiences of South African medical personnel within the broader framework of working and political conditions in the African continent. The assertion in this paper is that while the choice for international relocation is both professional and personal, they actually emerge out of a plethora of disablements. In South Africa it is especially through endemic violence and affirmative action (push factors), viewed here as a re-racialisation of post-apartheid South Africa. Political transformation after April 1994 has led from exuberant euphoria to utter despair in service deliveries. The health service has not been spared by the complacencies of bureaucratic inertia, selective appointments and reverse racism. It is against the backdrop of such conditions that the perceived positive social and political conditions in developed countries have become major sources of attraction for medical personnel from South Africa. Through the use of interviews and observations, this paper reveals that the current working situation for doctors in South Africa is more retrogressive than progressive.

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Section: Professional Critiquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical Personnel in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Nexus between Political Change and Migration

Singh¹

2019

Alternation

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“…Provinces respectively, will play a major role in strengthening eye healthcare in South Africa as they continue to provide eye care services in rural communities. 17 Although the NHI funding model is currently not well understood, except that the funds will be from the general tax revenue, it is also not clear how these institutions will be strengthened financially and also participate in the system.…”

Section: Financingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These changes should then eliminate problems such as those in Northern Cape Province, where there are no optometrists in the public healthcare system. According to Sithole, 17 only two optometrists are available in the public healthcare system of Western Cape Province. Such a lack of these important roleplayers in PHC will not meet the operational standards of the NHI if the governance structures surrounding this problem are not improved.…”

Section: Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

An overview of the National Health Insurance and its possible impact on eye healthcare services in South Africa

Sithole

2015

African Vision and Eye Health

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The National Health Insurance (NHI) is an important development that underpins democracy in South Africa. It aims to redress the inequities of public healthcare delivery by implementing transformational policies towards establishing inclusive public healthcare coverage for the entire population of South Africa, with more emphasis on health promotion. The implementation of this initiative has created some hope amongst primary eye healthcare professionals, such as optometrists, that their profession may finally be given the recognition it deserves. Although the government is contemplating introducing a new directorate for eye healthcare and forming an advisory committee on eye healthcare reporting to the Minister of Health, the extent to which eye healthcare will be incorporated into the NHI is currently not clear. It is believed that the white paper on the NHI will shed some light on these issues. Unfortunately, current indications are that the initiative has serious challenges to overcome such as poor infrastructure, budgetary constraints and lack of interest from other healthcare professionals. Furthermore, corruption issues may also need to be addressed if the NHI is to be implemented successfully. Nevertheless, the NHI remains a positive proposition for universal health coverage for the people of South Africa, and there is hope that primary eye care providers, such as optometrists and other eye care professionals, will also play a greater role in the NHI than they currently do in the public healthcare system.

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“…In a study by Sithole, 36 school health programmes were reported to be the most prominent health promotion activities in South Africa and have also been proven to achieve some goals in health promotion by various researchers. 37 The aim of school health programmes is to achieve healthy lifestyles for the total school population by developing supportive environments conducive to health promotion.…”

Section: School Health Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Western Cape) even contract private eye care practitioners to service citizens in their region. 36 Although such an initiative may be working, it further reveals the degree to which South Africa has diversified eye care services across all provinces, to the extent that eye health promotion is non-existent. Consequently, the private sector is the provider of most basic eye care services including eye health promotion in South Africa.…”

Section: Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological considerations for intervention strategy in the development of eye health promotion policy in South Africa

Sithole

2015

African Vision and Eye Health

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Eye health promotion is an important component of public health. To realise the essential aspects of eye health promotion, the formulation and implementation of policy as an intervention strategy is a major contributory factor and can best be described by an ecological framework. Ecological perspectives assert that people’s health affairs cannot be neatly grouped into diagnoses, symptoms and risk factors to be targeted and eliminated; this is because the core concept of an ecological model is that behaviour has many levels of influence, often including intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, physical environmental, and policy. Therefore, societal and personal issues can be directly linked to an ecological model that points to issues of numerous levels of influence on certain behaviours that affect the manner in which eye care services are utilised. These behaviours are therefore termed salient beliefs. Unfortunately, there is no study in South Africa that has identified the set of beliefs that are salient in any given population that might be responsible for influencing the uptake of eye care services. However, reorienting eye health care services through direct policy reforms and advocacy may change the landscape of eye health care services in South Africa.

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A critical analysis of the South African health policies and programmes with regard to eye health promotion

Cited by 6 publications

References 226 publications

Medical Personnel in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Nexus between Political Change and Migration

Medical Personnel in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Nexus between Political Change and Migration

An overview of the National Health Insurance and its possible impact on eye healthcare services in South Africa

Ecological considerations for intervention strategy in the development of eye health promotion policy in South Africa

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