The SA Primary Healthcare Conference, currently underway at the East London International Convention Centre, has heard on Day One a sobering reflective presentation by Dr Thulani Masilela from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation within the Presidency on the Current State of Primary Healthcare in South Africa.
Dr Masilela pointed out from the onset that the figures tell a story of social determinants contributing greatly in influencing the status of Primary healthcare, although the status cannot be solely attributed them as sole causal factors.
Inequality, poverty and hunger contributed to general well-being of South Africans. He singled out the many households (about 71 percent) who skipped one of the day’s three meals due to affordability issues, and said this meant they missed out on crucial nutrition which in the end determined their overall wellbeing.
In dissecting the overall access to PHC services by citizens as measured by headcounts, Dr Masilela pointed out that a total of 128 304 million people had accessed the primary healthcare services in 2013 in the country, which has decreased to 105 134 million people by year 2022.
He said the low figures in 2022 may have to do with the other strategy that the government initiated in 2014, the Central Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) programme, whose enrollment has increased from just over 26 000 by year 2014 to over 5,6 million in 2023, meaning it may have resulted in the de-congestion of the primary healthcare by chronic patients.
He said in terms of maternal health, the country is gradually registering some improvement.
When checking the overall improvement of primary healthcare on the country’s total of 3471 facilities as measured by Ideal Clinics and OHSC Compliance status, he said at least 58.9% of the facilities have complied by 2022/23 led by Gauteng, followed by KZN and Western Cape respectively.
On the unfinished business.
Looking at the health outcomes as measured by average life expectancy in in the provinces, he pointed out the concerning variations in the outcomes in different provinces, specifically pointing out the huge gap between Free State and Western Cape where there exists a 10 year difference (Life Expectancy for males is 56 years in Free State while it is 66 years in the Western Cape; for females, Free State stands at 62 while in the Western Cape it stands at 71 years).
“The Western Cape has reached the National Development Plan (NDP) goal in this area, with still seven years to spare.”
The conference continues…