Health Interventions

Marathon Room

Facilitator – Rob Worthington Smith

Dave Woods – Perinatal Education ProjectJackie Tau – Aspen Pharmacare

Health InterventionsKey areas identified by the Department of Health

• Project 1: Support for the development of an Institute for Leadership and Management in Health Care.

• Project 2: A collaborative project with the Health and Welfare Sector Training Authority (HWSETA) to employ new unemployed graduates in internships to develop critical support skills for National Health Insurance and expand employment in the health sector

• Project 3: To expand the production of doctors and other health professionals. The project would prioritise the expansion of MBChB intake, and identify other critical skills for development and expansion.

• Project 4: Support for the development of a Centre for Health Workforce Intelligence. The project would support the development of an electronic live database on health professional numbers in the public and private sector.

Health InterventionsPractices holding us back

• Government’s inability to cope with the size of the challenge

• HWSETA’s inefficiency• Fragmentation of NGOs, initiatives and a lack of

cohesion between the public & private sector• NGOs competing and not enough collaborating /

coordinating• Too many managers and not enough leaders• High emphasis on bio-medicine, not taking into

account traditional beliefs

Health InterventionsPractices holding us back

• Lack of infrastructure and collapsing equipment, as well as theft of medication and equipment (not addressed in many programmes)

• Lack of skills (medical staff)• Inability to access remote areas (or to draw skills there) –

unequal distribution of resources • Brain drain – number of medical staff leaving the country• Low morale in the field, and insufficient commitment to

the job• Lack of awareness & education about the various aspects

of healthcare

Health InterventionsPractices holding us back

• Top down approach – limited consultation with key players in the field.

• Resistance to change• Interventions are not diverse/flexible/cross-cutting

enough: the “all eggs in one basket” approach

Health InterventionsPractices that should be encouraged

• NGO partnerships and collaboration• More collaboration between Social Development

sector and the Dept. of Health• Better working conditions for healthcare workers• More collaboration between Private & Public heath

sector• Innovative, flexible, facilitated and affordable

educational opportunities• Research to identify bottlenecks and opportunities

within whole healthcare system

Health InterventionsPractices that should be encouraged

• Continuous training initiatives for healthcare workers• Communicating/Publishing personal success stories• Alignment of policy to reality. i.e. Poor people unable

to access costly private healthcare• Involvement of private/3rd sector in formulating

overarching (Government) policies• Continued investment in primary-based care (in

particular) and mental health services• Encourage and support awareness and advocacy

programs, particularly at community level

Health InterventionsPractices that should be encouraged

• Task shifting; enabling community health workers to take on some of the work of overburdened health professionals

• Mentoring for new/progressing staff