full report - UCT - Research Report 2011

goals by actively promoting equitable access to health
care. This is being explored through the case of South
Africa’s health system, focusing on three tracer health
interventions of particular relevance to the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and which are crucial to
addressing the burden of ill-health in South Africa. The
tracers are maternal health services, tuberculosis and
HIV care. The HEU collaborates with the Centre for Health
Policy at the University of Witwatersrand, the Africa
Centre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and McMaster
University in Canada and the project will run until the
middle of 2012.
In the area of economic evaluation, the HEU is involved
in the EXTEND study funded by the Gates Foundation.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact and costeffectiveness
of Xpert MTB/RIF in the investigation of
TB and its impact on patient and programme outcomes
and transmission at a population level, and thus inform
policy on the scale up of Xpert MTB/RIF in low- and
middle-income countries. The project is led by the Aurum
Institute in partnership with the National Health Laboratory
Services, National Department of Health, University of
Cape Town, London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine and the World Health Organisation.
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.
Coordination work for EQUINET (Regional Network for
Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa) continued
in 2010 around equitable financing of health systems and
equitable allocation of health care resources in a range of
East and Southern African countries.
A project on public engagement in health care systems
change in South Africa continued in 2011. It was launched
by Black Sash in collaboration with the HEU and Health-e.
During 2011, the HEU undertook a discrete choice
experiment (DCE) to elicit the community’s preferences
in health care delivery. The results of the DCE study will
contribute to the design of policy for health system change
in South Africa.
health policy and systems
The Health Policy and Systems (HPS) programme
encompasses a range of activities aiming to build this area
of work through teaching, research and networking within
and outside the SOPHFM.
The particular focus of work is health policy analysis and
health systems research. Current activities include post
FACULTY OF heALTh sCienCes
graduate teaching in the field within UCT, engagement
with a network to support capacity development for
health policy and systems research/analysis within African
universities, and research in the field.
In 2011, work began within an eleven partner Africa-
Europe network to support curriculum development, staff
development for research and teaching and engagement
with policy makers around health policy and systems
analysis. This new network (CHEPSAA, the Consortium
for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa) will run
for four years and held it first annual meeting in Ghana in
May 2011.
HPS research activities in 2011 included, first, continuing
work in testing and developing approaches to synthesising
health policy analysis material. A series of papers
presenting these syntheses are under development.
Second, we continued work within the DIALHS project
(district innovation and action learning for health system
development), which is being implemented in collaboration
with the University of the Western Cape, the Western Cape
provincial Department of Health and the City of Cape
Town health directorate. This project is working with local
managers through a process of action research to address
priority planning and management needs, currently within
one sub-district of the City of Cape Town. In 2011, DIALHS
work included supporting a community profiling exercise
to support sub-district health planning processes and
the initiation of a study to inform support for primary care
facility level leadership and management.
Third, the International Religious Health Assets Programme
(IRHAP) (formerly known as the African Religious Health
Assets Programme (AHRAP), and based in UCT’s Faculty
of Humanities) was launched in the School of Public Health
and Family Medicine and falls under the HPS programme.
Fourth, a new International Development Research
Centre (IDRC) grant was awarded for the Collaboration
for Health Systems Analysis and Innovation (CHESAI)
project to develop the field of health policy and systems
research through activities such as postdoctoral research
awards, sabbaticals for practitioner scholars and expert
research residencies. The project will be jointly executed
by the University of the Western Cape and the University
of Cape Town.
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 relationship between health equity and
human rights; the rights of the Deaf in the health care
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