sahr2001 - Health Systems Trust

17 • Health and Related Indicators
conditions of higher economic growth, urbanisation and improved status of
women in society. South Africa has a fertility rate that is markedly lower
than that for other countries in Southern and East Africa. However,
uncertainty surrounds the local figure, with some experts claiming an underestimate
of fertility and others suggesting a decline in fertility due to HIV.
Population distribution in South Africa reflects the impact of past policies -
with large differences in population density between provinces combined
with large intra-provincial variability. Population densities are relatively high
in former homeland areas. Such areas are also largely underserved, with low
levels of infrastructure and employment, and consequent high levels of poverty
and vulnerability [SA Pop Report 2000].
Public sector dependent populations have been quantified in order to provide
explicit provincial denominators for many of the indicators in other sections
that reflect public health services delivered by the State. The way in which
the public sector dependent population has been estimated ignores the very
real degree to which indigent patients purchase health-related goods and
services in the private sector.
Population
Definitions:
Annual Population Growth Rate: The rate at which the population is
increasing or decreasing in a given year expressed as a percentage of the base
population size. It takes into consideration all the components of population
growth, namely births, deaths and migration.
Average Household Size: Average number of people living in each household
where household is defined as a person, or a group of persons, who occupy
a common dwelling (or part of it) for at least four days a week and who
provide themselves jointly with food and other essentials for living. In other
words, they live together as a unit. People who occupy the same dwelling,
but who do not share food or other essentials, are enumerated as separate
households.
Crude Death Rate: Number of deaths in a year/population at mid-year per
1000 population.
Public Sector Dependent Population: This is an adjustment of the total
population to the number assumed to be dependent on services in the public
health sector based on medical scheme (health insurance) coverage. It is
calculated by subtracting the number of people with medical scheme cover
(determined from medical scheme membership reports, or surveys indicating
percentage of population on medical schemes) from the total population to
obtain a population assumed to be dependent on the public sector.
Total Fertility Rate: The average number of children that a woman gives
birth to in her lifetime, assuming that the prevailing rates remain unchanged.
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