National health insurance in the face of COVID-19: urban tendencies in South Africa

Weir-Smith, G.; Mokhele, Tholang; Dlamini, Simangele

doi:10.1080/03736245.2021.2020585

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The NHI seeks to guarantee that everyone living in South Africa, regardless of SES, has access to high-quality healthcare services offered by the public and private sectors [ 32 ]. Weir-Smith et al [ 22 ] found that 77.5% of the urban residents were in favour of NHI implementation in South Africa, affirming an earlier statistic by Booysen and Hongoro [ 33 ], who indicated that more than 80% of healthcare users (from both urban and rural areas) were of the opinion that NHI was a top priority.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In South Africa, the National Health Insurance (NHI) is being planned to ensure that all people have equal access to healthcare. Weir-Smith et al [ 22 ] assessed urban residents’ perceptions about the NHI implementation and factors associated to these perceptions during the early days of theCOVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. They found that those who favoured the NHI were men, those who were informally employed, people staying in informal settlements and townships, and those of the Black African and Colored populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors Affecting Access to Public Healthcare Facilities in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

Moeti

Mokhele

Weir-Smith

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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Access to healthcare services is largely determined by socioeconomic factors, with economically well-off individuals obtaining healthcare services more efficiently than those who are disadvantaged. This paper aims to assess the effects of socioeconomic and other related factors on access to healthcare facilities in the City of Tshwane, South Africa, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were sourced from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) quality of life survey (2020/2021). Multivariate logistic regression was applied. Results showed that 66.3% of the respondents reported that they had access to public healthcare facilities within their area. Furthermore, results showed that those who lived in informal houses were significantly (OR = 0.55, 95% CI [0.37–0.80], p < 0.01) less likely to report that they had access to public healthcare facilities in their area compared to those who lived in formal houses. More efforts need to be undertaken to ensure that all citizens have access to public healthcare facilities, especially among those who are disadvantaged, such as informal dwellers. In addition, future research should encompass locality in relation to the factors that affect access to public healthcare facilities, especially during pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to have geographically targeted interventions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting Access to Public Healthcare Facilities in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

Moeti

Mokhele

Weir-Smith

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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“…The findings of this study further showed that parents residing in suburbs, townships, and informal settlements were significantly more likely to have ever taken their children for scheduled vaccinations than those residing in the inner cities. It is important to note that although the term city is inclusive of informal settlements, townships, and suburbs, the sociodemographic characteristics of these areas are distinctly different given the history of extensive state interference in urban development in South Africa [ 39 , 40 ]. Parents who reside in most inner cities in South Africa are mostly young people who at the later stage move to surrounding suburbs and townships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Parents Taking Their Children for Scheduled Vaccinations during COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa

et al. 2023

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Scheduled or routine childhood vaccinations are known for their effectiveness in eradicating fear for many life-threatening and disabling diseases and saving lives globally. This paper is aimed at assessing determinants of parents taking their children for scheduled vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. Data used for this paper were obtained from the Human Sciences Research Council’s (HSRC) COVID-19 Online Survey titled “One Year Later Survey”, which was conducted between 25 June and 11 October 2021 in South Africa. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to achieve this study goal. Findings showed that just over half of parents (56.7%) reported taking their children for scheduled vaccinations across the country. Males were significantly less likely (aOR = 0.53 95% CI [0.45–0.61], p < 0.001) to have taken their children for scheduled vaccinations than females. Parents’ experiences and views were among key determinants of parents having taken their children for scheduled vaccinations in South Africa. Parents who had never taken influenza (flu) vaccines were significantly less likely (aOR = 0.33 [0.28–039], p < 0.001) to have taken their children for scheduled vaccinations than those who had taken flu vaccines. Parents who did not know anyone who had personally experienced serious side effects to any vaccine were significantly less likely (aOR = 0.77 [0.66–0.90], p = 0.001) to have taken their children for scheduled vaccinations than those who knew anyone who had experienced them. Parents who did not think vaccines were a good way to protect communities from disease were significantly less likely (aOR = 0.50 [0.33–0.77], p = 0.001) to have taken their children for scheduled vaccinations than those who thought vaccines were a good way to protect communities from disease. These findings are of significance especially during the time when the country is still struggling to reach a substantial proportion of its population vaccinated for COVID-19. Thus, these findings may be relevant in determining parents’ intentions to have their children receive the South African Department of Health recommended vaccines for their respective age group.

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“…Private sector users were generally less supportive of NHI [48]. An online COVID-19 survey in 2020 revealed most urban respondents were in favour of NHI, but found that socio-economic status and education level in uenced perceptions of NHI, with people with higher levels of education less likely to support it [51].…”

Section: Governance Of the Fundmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mixed method media analysis of the representation of the South African National Health Insurance policy in the mainstream media from 2011 to 2019

Bust

Whyle

Olivier

2022

Preprint

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Background: Media is a crucial factor in shaping public opinion and setting policy agendas. There is limited research on the role of media in health policy processes in low- and middle-income countries. This study profiles South Africa as a case example, currently in the process of implementing a major health policy reform, National Health Insurance (NHI).Methods: A descriptive, mixed methods study was conducted in five phases. Evidence was gathered through a scoping review of secondary literature; discourse analysis of global policy documents on universal health coverage and South African NHI policy documents; and a content and discourse analysis of South African print and online media texts focused on NHI. Representations within media were analysed and dominant discourses that might influence the policy process were identified.Results: Discourses of ‘health as a global public good’ and ‘neoliberalism’ were identified in global and national policy documents. Similar neoliberal discourse was identified within SA media. Unique discourses were identified within SA media relating to biopolitics and corruption. Media representations reveal political and ideological contestation which was not as present in the global and national policy documents. Media representations did not mirror the lived reality of most of the South African population. The discourses identified influence the policy process and hinder public participation in these processes. They reinforce social hierarchy and power structures in South Africa, and might reinforce current inequalities in the health system, with negative repercussions for access to health care.Conclusions: There is a need to understand mainstream media as part of a people-centred health system, particularly in the context of universal health coverage reforms such as NHI. Harmful media representations should be counter-acted. This requires the formation of collaborative and sustainable networks of policy actors to develop strategies on how to leverage media within health policy to support policy processes, build public trust and social cohesion, and ultimately decrease inequalities and increase access to health care. Research should be undertaken to explore media in other diverse formats and languages, and in other contexts, particularly low- and middle-income countries, to further understand media’s role in health policy processes.

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National health insurance in the face of COVID-19: urban tendencies in South Africa

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Factors Affecting Access to Public Healthcare Facilities in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

Factors Affecting Access to Public Healthcare Facilities in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

Determinants of Parents Taking Their Children for Scheduled Vaccinations during COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa

A mixed method media analysis of the representation of the South African National Health Insurance policy in the mainstream media from 2011 to 2019

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