sahr2001 - Health Systems Trust

2 • The District Health System
Appendix 1: Data and Maps for newly Demarcated Municipalities
In December 2000 the entire country was divided into a set of new local
government structures, namely 6 category A municipalities (Metropolitan
Councils), 47 category C municipalities (District Councils) and 232 category
B municipalities (Local Councils). These 47 category C municipalities and 6
category A municipalities will comprise 53 ‘health districts’. In the case of
category C municipalities, one or more category B municipalities can be
grouped to form a ‘health sub-district’. In the case of a category A municipality,
it may be sub-divided into smaller geographic administrative units which
would then form ‘health sub-districts’.
Thus the South African terminology ‘health sub-district’ would be equivalent
to the World Health Organisation terminology of ‘health district’ and also
equivalent to the ‘old health districts’ that were in place prior to the final
local government demarcation process.
Basic information on the new municipal structures is provided for each
province. Population estimates for 2002 based on Census 96 and land area
(km 2 ) are given for each category B municipality. Note that the summed area
figures do not correspond exactly with the provincial totals given in the Health
and Related Indicators section, mostly due to rounding errors and problems
introduced by cross-border municipalities.
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