Re-Engineering Primary Health Care: A Formative Process Evaluation of rPHC Implementation in King Sabata Dalindyebo sub-District in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

In 2010, the Department of Health of South Africa launched a “Re-engineering Primary Health Care” (rPHC) initiative, aiming to shift the focus of primary health care to a health-promoting community-based model. At the heart of the program are ward-based primary health care outreach teams, comprised of generalist community health workers (CHWs) supervised by facility-based nurses. With the support of the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDOH), ICAP at Columbia University conducted a formative process evaluation to describe the implementation of ward-based rPHC activities in one sub-district... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Rabkin, Miriam
Mutiti, Anthony
Mwansa, Judith
Macheka, Tonderayi
Austin-Evelyn, Katherine
El-Sadr, Wafaa Mahmoud
Dokumenttyp: Reports
Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
Schlagwörter: Outcome assessment (Medical care) / Medical care--Evaluation / Health services administration / Medical care / Public health / Eastern Cape (South Africa). Department of Health
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28849875
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.7916/D8N0168C

In 2010, the Department of Health of South Africa launched a “Re-engineering Primary Health Care” (rPHC) initiative, aiming to shift the focus of primary health care to a health-promoting community-based model. At the heart of the program are ward-based primary health care outreach teams, comprised of generalist community health workers (CHWs) supervised by facility-based nurses. With the support of the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDOH), ICAP at Columbia University conducted a formative process evaluation to describe the implementation of ward-based rPHC activities in one sub-district between January 2012 and December 2013. King Sabato Dalyindebo (KSD) sub-district of OR Tambo District was selected by ECDOH as the evaluation location. The process evaluation used both qualitative and quantitative methods, including in-depth interviews with implementers and nurses, focus group discussions with CHWs and community members, structured surveys of knowledge and satisfaction completed by nurses and CHWs, and review of existing DOH data on training and service delivery. Key findings included: 1. Ward-based outreach teams were launched by December 2013. By the end of 2013, KSD sub-district had trained, staffed and launched ward-based outreach teams in all 35 wards, with more than 100 CHWs engaged in community-level activities. 2. Outreach, counseling, and adherence support services were being delivered to communities. CHW encouraged community members to seek facility-level health care services, and assisted in the identification and referral of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) defaulters, linking these patients back to treatment. 3. The outreach teams have added value, but their performance has not been rigorously evaluated. Although implementers and nurses indicated that investments in CHW training had improved the capacity of outreach teams, quality had yet to be assessed. Community members were deeply appreciative of CHW outreach services, but noted some concerns about confidentiality. Lower-than-expected CHW test ...