BROAD STATEMENT OF THE HEALTH SECTOR CHALLENGES Sample Clauses

BROAD STATEMENT OF THE HEALTH SECTOR CHALLENGES. South Africa currently faces a quadruple Burden of Disease (BoD) consisting of HIV and AIDS and TB; High Maternal and Child Mortality; Non-Communicable Diseases and; Violence and Injuries. In 2007, the South African population represented 0.7% of the world’s population, but accounted for 17% (about 5.5 million people) of the global burden of HIV infections (The Lancet, August 2009). Life expectancy in South Africa has declined. During the period 1985 – 1994, Statistics SA estimated life expectancy at birth at about 54.12 years for males and 64.38 years for females. In 2009, the estimates were 53.9 years for males and 57.2 years for females. South Africa is also one of only 12 countries in the world in which mortality rates for children younger than 5 years have increased since 1990 (The Lancet, August 2009). Despite spending 8.7% of its GDP on health, and spending more on health than any other African country, the country has poor health indicators and outcomes. The South African health care system has been characterised as fragmented and inequitable due to the huge disparities that exist between the public and private health sectors with regards to the availability of financial and human resources, accessibility and delivery of health services. A decision was taken in 1994 to implement a Primary Health Care Approach as the backbone of the healthcare system. Despite this, the service delivery structure still leans heavily towards a curative high-cost care approach with limited adherence to any referral system, which implies that many patients are seen at an inappropriate level, usually by specialists and in hospitals and this contributes to cost escalation. The inequity in the health system is exacerbated by the fact that access to health care is unequal with the majority of the population relying on a public health care system that has a disproportionately lower amount of financial and human resources at its disposal relative to the private sector. For instance, in 2009 nominal terms, the per capita spend in the public sector is estimated at R1, 900 whilst in the private sector it is R11, 300. Furthermore, the distribution of key health professionals between the two sectors is also skewed. In the public sector there are about 4,200 patients to a general doctor compared to 243 patients to a general doctor in the private sector. While access in terms of reach has been achieved, more still needs to be done in terms of improving quality of care, human resourc...