Cape Town - The dire need for accessible, comprehensive primary health-care services in rural communities of the Western Cape was one of the prominent concerns raised with the Department of Health and Wellness by members of the standing committee on health in a recent briefing.
On Friday, the committee was briefed by the department on home community-based care services in the province.
The department said it was in the process of finalising outcomes on non-profit organisations (NPOs) to be partnered with the department to provide community-based health services through community health workers.
An external call for proposals from NPOs was put out in December 2022, for 2023/2024.
A call for proposals is sent annually for NPOs to deliver home- and community-based care services. NPOs compliant with relevant legislation were invited to submit proposals. The allocations and signing of contracts is scheduled to take place next month.
The department will conduct annual evaluations to assess performance with a view to an extended partnership for three years. In January, workshops with between 400-500 people from various NPOs were held.
Operations chief Dr Saadiq Kariem said infectious diseases, unhealthy behaviour, injuries and violence, poor outcomes in maternal and child health were key challenges facing all communities, along with the increasing burden of mental health.
The department hopes to appoint 10 community health-care workers (CHW) per one nurse.
Currently, the province has around 3 900 CHW. Key populations for services include prisons, sex workers and truckers, farm and migrant workers, the LGBTQIA+ community and people who inject drugs.
Committee member Gladys Bakubaku-Vos (ANC) called for the department’s services to be expanded to rural areas, by providing transportation for health workers to these areas.
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said across all provinces, community health workers are the main drivers of the community-based care services, and that an injustice had been done to them, across South Africa.
Meanwhile, the department said its healthcare workers were on high alert over cholera and measles and a range of other diseases, following the country’s first recent cholera death and a measles outbreak in the Cape metro.