The introduction of free health care system for mothers and children under age six years was greatly appreciated by many South Africans including rural communities. This meant that the cost of health care would no longer deter this group of people from using health care services. However, many health care inequalities that existed prior to 1994 were not completely removed in the rural areas. In addition to lack of transport, the primary health care (PHC) clinics are inappropriately located. This has resulted in people having to travel greater distances in order to access health care services, particularly for maternal and child health services which are the greatest challenge of PHC in South Africa.
In order to determine how well the existing PHC clinics serve the population, it was necessary to assess these facilities in terms of accessibility as measured by distance from home. In addition a household survey was undertaken to investigate how this accessibility and other factors influence health care service utilisation and health status of reproductive mothers and their young children. The already available GIS platform at NMRP provided an opportunity to randomly select a representative sample of the target population for this study.
TSOKA JM, LE SUEUR D, SHARP BL (2003). Maternal health service utilisation in Ubombo district SAJOG 9(3), 70-74.
TSOKA JM, LE SUEUR D (2004). Using GIS to measure geographical accessibility to primary health care in rural South Africa. South African Journal of Science 100, 329-330.
MRP, Medical Research Council; Department of Health, Jozini; Bethesda Hospital, Ubombo; Mseleni Hospital, Ubombo; Manguzi Hospital, Ingwavuma; Mosvold Hospital, Ingwavuma.
Funding
Medical Research Council, Health Systems Trust