The Status of Clinic Committees in Primary Level - Health Systems ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Community participation is widely accepted as a desirable feature of any health system and is
considered to be an important aspect of developing and fostering effective governance at various
levels of the health system. Good governance is a fundamental tenet of South African health care
and the National Health Act No. 61 of 2003, makes provision for formally constituted, broad based
governance structures which include community representation at various levels of healthcare
delivery. Effective governance of the health system is critical to ensure both access to quality
health services and the accountability of the health services to communities.
In South Africa, governance structures in the form of clinic committees, hospital boards and district
health councils are intended to give expression to the principle of community participation at a
local and district level. Clinic committees, hospital boards and district health councils are intended
to act as a link between communities and health services and to provide a conduit for the health
needs and aspirations of the community to be represented at various local, district, provincial
and national levels. A tiered system of representation is envisaged in which the voice of ordinary
community members eventually makes its way from the local to the provincial level.
This study aimed to assess the functioning and effectiveness of health governance structures in
the form of clinic committees in order to identify opportunities for strengthening their role in
governance. The study sought to ascertain the number of clinic committees associated with public
health facilities in all nine provinces in South Africa. In addition, the study intended to identify the
factors that are perceived by clinic committee members to either facilitate or impede the effective
functioning of clinic committees. The study was conducted in two phases: the first phase consisted
of a cross sectional survey which was administered with the aim of collecting information on the
nature, scope and extent of community participation through clinic committees at public health
facilities in the nine provinces; in the second phase of the study, three focus group discussions
(FGDs) were undertaken with the members of three clinic committees and were directed at
providing a more in-depth understanding of the information collected in phase one, as well as
documenting the factors that are perceived as facilitating or impeding the effective functioning of
clinic committees.
While 57% of facilities reported having clinic committees, the study found that there are a range of
factors that impact on the functioning of these structures. The results also suggest that more clinic
committees exist in provinces where there has been explicit political support for the creation and
building the capacity of these structures. The data also suggests that most clinic committees have
come into existence since the promulgation of the National Health Act, 2003. Poor socio-economic
conditions and a context of poverty are important determinants of whether clinic committees
flourish as the study found that a failure to attend meetings (often due to transport costs) and the
lack of a stipend for clinic committee members are some of the reasons why facilities do not have
clinic committees. Encouragingly, in two provinces, more than 30% of those facilities which did
not have clinic committees reported being in the process of establishing committees. The low
level of local councillor membership (45%) in clinic committees is cause for concern as this is
a statutory requirement that is not being complied with. This has important implications for the
envisaged tiered system of representation articulated in the National Health Act, 2003. The results
also suggest that while most clinic committees meet on a monthly basis, the activities of the clinic
committees appear to be mostly confined to problem solving between the community and the
health facility, health education and volunteering their services in the facility. The issue of the roles
and responsibilities of clinic committee members’ needs attention as the research has highlighted
the gap that exists in this regard.
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