Primary
Health Care is an approach to health care systems. It is essential care that
aims to deliver essential, affordable, accessible and acceptable health care to
communities. Its main priority is to maintain holistic care in every dimension
no matter the status or state of a South African citizen. There have, however, been
challenges in the healthcare system of South Africa, namely, the great divide
between private and public health care and the burden of long term diseases.
Both of
these issues can be linked back to the apartheid regime. Private health care,
although very costly, provides shorter waiting times, more personal care and
better service delivery. Public health care centers, such as clinics, see
hundreds of patients a day and can lead to long waits, brief consultations and
not the best service delivery. There are also more health care workers in the
private sector (private hospitals and clinics) than the public sector (state
hospitals and clinics, often in rural areas). HIV/AIDS and TB are widespread
and common diseases in South Africa, and are thus treated at primary care
level. However, with the rising number of chronically ill patients, public
clinics lack the sufficient resources to properly provide and treat patients.
However,
a reengineered primary health care module has answered many healthcare issues.
One way is by deploying and effectively using the skills of community health
workers (CHW) to reach and care for those unable to make it to the clinic.
There are a number of reasons why people do not go to the clinic: lack of
infrastructure, lack of knowledge of disease or even shame. CHW’s break down
this barrier and act as an effective link between the clinic and the community.
A comprehensive PHC programme assists health workers in effectively carrying
out the aims of primary health care (as demonstrated in the table below).
There
have been challenges within primary health care in South Africa, but as the
above demonstrates, there have been successes which our healthcare community
can take pride in.
