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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
work built on the initial assets and needs assessment of
health policy and systems research in UCT and South
Africa – for example, by organizing a networking workshop
on HPSR in South Africa at the Public Health Association
Conference (PHASA), by developing teaching curriculae
for relevant courses, and supporting skills development
of staff. Dissemination of the initial needs assessment was
also undertaken, including through writing a chapter for
the annual Health Systems’ Trust Annual Health Review.
Continued implementation of work within the
District
Innovation, Action and Learning for Health Systems
development
(DIALHS) project. This project is being
implemented in collaboration with the SOPH at UWC, and
colleagues from the Western Cape health department and
City of Cape Town, within the Mitchell’s Plain sub-district of
the Metro District Health System. In 2012 a set of processes
of action learning were implemented in collaboration
with local officials focused on: following up a community
profiling activity bringing together a range of local actors
from local communities and different government sectors
better to understand the locally available health assets and
needs; better understanding the challenges and support
needs of those working as primary health care facility
managers; and better understanding the roles of sub-
district managers. A series of presentations were made on
this work at the South African Public Health Association
Conference, and the second international Health Systems
Symposium, Beijing. Funding is sourced from Atlantic
Philanthropies.
The
Collaboration for Health Systems Analysis and
Innovation
(CHESAI) was significantly strengthened during
2012. CHESAI is a collaborative of health policy and systems
researchers based in the Western Cape, South Africa—with
a focus on strengthening the health policy and systems
research field through conceptual and methodological
development, as well as interdisciplinary and multi‐sectoral
engagement. CHESAI aims to contribute to expanding and
strengthening the health policy and systems knowledge
base in Africa: building an intellectual hub for HPSR in
Cape Town South Africa; creating spaces for practice‐
research engagement; supporting African HSPR capacity
development; sharing and disseminating HPSR conceptual
and methodological innovations. CHESAI is a four year
collaborative running from 2012 to 2015. The main partners
are The University of Cape Town and The University of
the Western Cape, Schools of Public Health — supported
by a grant from the International Development Research
Centre, Canada.
The
International Religious Health Assets Programme
(IRHAP), formerly based in UCT’s Faculty of Humanities has
settled into the SOPHFM. International collaborative work
continues, including writing and research projects. Several
new empirical research projects under the IRHAP banner
began in 2012, including a three country-study on maternal
health service provision.
The HPSP also works with HEU within the RESYST
consortium, a UK DfID funded international health systems
research consortium (HPSP leads the governance work of
RESYST); and in the UNITAS project.
Resilient and Responsive Health Systems (RESYST)
is a
Consortium that is undertaking health policy and systems
research (with a focus on financing, health workers and
governance) in a set of African and Asian settings, including
India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand, Tanzania and
Vietnam. Funded by DfID, the consortium began in 2011
and will run until 2016. The Health Policy and Systems
Division has a particular focus on the governance agenda
within the RESYST programme of work. The
UNITAS
project
focuses on monitoring and evaluating policy formulation
and implementation processes aimed at achieving
universal health coverage in South Africa and Tanzania.
The project undertakes monitoring mainly at the district
level, with some monitoring and evaluation at the national
level. It aims to support implementation processes and
will establish an ‘early warning system’ of implementation
difficulties. The project runs from 2011 to 2015 and is
funded by the European Union. It is a collaborative project
with partners from the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, Ifakara Health Institute (in Tanzania),
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (in Belgium), Centre
for Health Policy, University of Witwatersrand and the Africa
Centre in South Africa.
Health and Human Rights
Programme
The Health and Human Rights Programme undertakes a
range of teaching, research and advocacy aimed at helping
to build a culture of human rights in South Africa. Its work
extends into East and Southern Africa. Research areas
include the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the
realisation of the right to health, community participation
in the right to health, the rights of the Deaf in the health
care system and how health care providers can be involved
in the realisation of the right to health.
The Learning Network for Health & Human Rights (LN)
with 6 Western Cape CSOs in partnership with Universities
of Maastricht, Warwick and Western Cape continues to
provide opportunities to identify best practice for realising
health rights. This network draws on a multidisciplinary
team of researchers in partnership with CSOs to develop