Health sector reforms: implications for maternal and child healthcare in South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorJumare, Fadila
dc.contributor.authorOgujiuba, Kanayo
dc.contributor.authorStiegler, Nancy
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-04T12:45:46Z
dc.date.available2016-01-04T12:45:46Z
dc.date.issued2013-07
dc.description.abstractGenerally, public health facilities in developing countries tend to be underfunded and inefficient. In South Africa, these problems have continued even after the introduction of free maternal and child health care policy. It is argued that this policy increased utilization rate and consequently overcrowding of public health facilities. Nonetheless, long waiting times and unavailability of certain drugs continue to serve as major barriers to accessing health facilities in South Africa. Available records and our findings indicate that there is lack of consistent training for health personnel, increasing workload, inadequate physical infrastructure, resources and equipment, which have made it difficult to reduce maternal mortality rates. This paper xrays health reforms in other countries vis-à-vis propositions by international organizations and posits that the free maternal and child healthcare policy in South Africa has been formulated without considering the capacity and resources necessary to implement it. As a result, its implementation only aided in increasing access to public facilities and an improvement in utilization rates with no substantial increase in the quality of the services delivery. The paper concludes that the current health reform have the potential of reducing social exclusion, nonetheless, it must be managed carefully through supportive actions in order to avoid negative impacts on the wider health system and consequent worsening of the health system.en_US
dc.description.accreditationInternational Bibliography of Social Sciencesen_US
dc.identifier.citationFadila, J. & Ogujiuba, K. et al. (2014) Health sector reforms: implications for maternal and child healthcare in South Africa. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Volume 4, No. (6), Pages 593-603.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2039-9340
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/2040
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterfalse
dc.publisherMCSER-CEMAS-Sapienza University of Romeen_US
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
dc.rights.uri10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n6p593
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n6p593
dc.status.ispeerreviewedtrue
dc.subjectHealth Sector Reformen_US
dc.subjectFree maternal and child health policyen_US
dc.subjectEfficient accessen_US
dc.subjectWork loaden_US
dc.subjectQuality service deliveryen_US
dc.titleHealth sector reforms: implications for maternal and child healthcare in South Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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