Ritshidze's community-led monitoring system as a source of information on health system responsiveness in South Africa
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
South African Medical Association
Abstract
Ritshidze is a large-scale community-led monitoring (CLM) system in South Africa, which has been conducting quarterly surveys of patient experiences at >400 primary healthcare facilities and community sites since 2019. This in-practice piece examines the data collected and publicly reported by Ritshidze, to highlight its role as an independent, complementary source of information on primary healthcare performance. It argues that CLM has significant potential to enhance health system responsiveness. We provide an overview of the data collection system, involving close to 500 data points organised into seven domains, and then focus on two sets of indicators that illustrate the utility of the monitoring and reporting system. The indicators selected are a set that assesses patient time spent at a facility (as a proxy for waiting times), illustrating both the depth and the breadth of the Ritshidze database; and the length of HIV prescriptions ('length of medicine refill'), as an indicator of the improvements in responsiveness of the health system to the needs of patients. Integrating CLM data into formal health system monitoring and evaluation frameworks could enhance the responsiveness of the health system to patients and communities, one of the key overall objectives of the district health system.
Description
Keywords
community-led monitoring, district health systems information, information dashboards, responsiveness of the health system, performance
Citation
Barron, P., Honermann, B., Vallabhjee, K., Govender, K. and Schneider, H., 2025. Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring system as a source of information on health system responsiveness in South Africa. South African Medical Journal, 115(3), pp.16-22.