Health

Hand Hygiene During The Covid-19 Epidemic

In an epidemic where so much remains unknown and where fear is widespread, it is important to enable all persons at risk to feel a sense of agency in relation to their own safety. Two elements are considered here: education about the importance of hand hygiene, and the provision of adequate quantities of usable water and sanitation to make thorough hand washing possible.

Mental Health II - National Health Insurance

Part 2 will consider the content of the National Health Insurance Bill as well as possible implications that it may have on the state of mental health care.

Mental Health I - Legal and policy framework

Part 1 explores the present legal instruments designed to ensure that all those who require it will have access to mental health care. The brief further considers the political will of creating suitable access for those most in need.

Medical aid schemes, medical insurance and the low-cost benefit option II – Where we need to go

Part 2 in this series will look at the work done on the reform of prescribed minimum benefits and its implications for National Health Insurance.

Medical aid schemes, medical insurance and the low-cost benefit option I – Current status

Part 1 in this series explores the manner in which the Council for Medical Schemes has dealt with Low-Cost Benefit Options especially in light of the pending National Health Insurance.

A Guide To The Duties Imposed On South Africans During The Lockdown

In this brief, Charles Simkins, offers an explainer to the Amended COVID-19 Lockdown Regulations which come into effect on 26 March 2020.

The National Health Insurance Bill IV: Summary of the HSF’s conclusions on the Bill

This brief is one of a series of four briefs on the National Health Insurance Bill (“NHI”). Their content is based on the submission which the HSF made to Parliament on 29 November 2019 on the National Health Insurance Bill (“the Bill”).

The National Health Insurance Bill III: Governance and the State’s ability to manage the envisaged NHI

This brief is one of a series of four briefs on the National Health Insurance Bill (“NHI”). Their content is based on the submission which the HSF made to Parliament on 29 November 2019 on the National Health Insurance Bill (“the Bill”).

The National Health Insurance Bill II: Insufficient detail on crucial aspects of the proposed NHI and its funding

This brief is one of a series of four briefs on the National Health Insurance Bill (“NHI”). Their content is based on the submission which the HSF made to Parliament on 29 November 2019 on the National Health Insurance Bill (“the Bill”).

The National Health Insurance Bill I: The current situation in the health sector and how the NHI Bill proposes to change it

This brief is the first of a series of four on the National Health Insurance Bill (“NHI”). They are based on the submission which the HSF made to Parliament on 29 November 2019 on the National Health Insurance Bill (“the Bill”).

Asbestos Cement Waterpipes: A Health Hazard?

Studies have shown that asbestos poses health risks to humans beyond the inhalation of fibres. Evidence suggests that ingestion of asbestos fibres from contaminated drinking water supplied though aged asbestos cement pipes also poses health hazards. This review explores how continued use of deteriorating asbestos cement pipes in water reticulation networks poses risks to human health.

Emerging Contaminants - Crisis Or Manageable Risk?

At present the global scientific community is grappling with the question of whether emerging contaminants in water pose any substantial health risks to humans. While the serious empirical exploration is under way, misplaced media hype about them risks creating undue public panic. This brief explores current debates, risks and solutions for emerging contaminants in water bodies.

Sexual Assault - Part 3: Sexual violence as a Weapon of War

A very popular, yet grossly under recognised, feature and weapon of war is sexual violence. Sexual violence, like artillery, is used to cause destruction through the terrorisation of a population or as an assertion of power by belligerent forces. Rape, when committed as part of a widespread attack, is also an effective tool for bringing about the destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group – otherwise known as genocide.

Sexual Assault - Part 2: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

According to legislation, employers have a positive legal duty to ensure that the workplace is free from unfair discrimination. What the legislature and disciplinary bodies alike do not take into consideration are the delicacies of the power differentials between men and women (not only as between superiors and subordinates) in the workplace and the trauma suffered by the victims of sexual harassment. Until there is an understanding of these inherent power dynamics that exist in the workplace, sexual misconduct will continue to persist in that space.

Sexual Assault - Part 1: Sexual Offences in the Criminal Justice System

Crimes of a sexual nature, the world over, are prosecuted distinct from any other form of crime. The burden of proof in sexual offence cases is more stringent (although it is not permitted to be). The tests and defences used are subjective as opposed to objective – as with all other crimes. Unlike other crimes, commissions of sexual offences, it can be argued, are skewed predominantly against women and children. They are also the only crimes in which the victim’s behaviour is the focal point, as opposed to that of the accused.

A commentary on the National Health Summit 2018 report

In October 2018, the inaugural Presidential Health Summit took place. The Summit sought to invite key stakeholders to deliberate on the issues causing our health system to fail. With the release of the Presidential Health Summit Report 2019, the drafters of the report came to a number of conclusions and recommendations which require comment.

The Medical Schemes Amendment Bill And The National Health Insurance Bill

This brief accompanies the release of our submission to the national Department of Health on its draft Medical Schemes Amendment Bill and the National Health Insurance Bill.

This brief is the second of two. The first brief assesses the extent to which government thinking has progressed on the funding of the health system. This brief will consider the extent to which quantitative modelling can help us think about the system’s future.

This brief is the first of two. It assesses the extent to which government thinking has progressed on the health system. The second will consider whether quantitative modelling can help us think about the system’s future.

This Brief focuses on the Zika virus and the threat to the Brazilian Olympic Games.

This Brief done by HSF's Sarika Doodnath deals with the Silicosis and Tuberculosis cased which are currently being debated over in Court.

This Brief looks at the purchaser-provider split and issues around it as well as whether it is necessary in South Africa's public health system.

This Brief looks at the developments in the NHI White Paper and the effect on the Private Sector with such proposals

This Brief looks at how the resources are allocated in terms of Primary Health Care (PHC) under the NHI White Paper.

This Brief does a comparison between the National Health Insurance (NHI) White Paper and the NHI Green Paper to ascertain differences, advancements and omissions.

Andrew Barlow looks at Brazil's wildly successful Family Health Strategy programme, and how a similar initiative could be rolled out here in South Africa.

Charles Simkins reviews the previous four briefs, pulling together themes and proposing how the government could affect genuinely meaningful change to South Africa's public health system.

The third brief in this series dealt with the two-tier systems used to finance UHC by Israel and the Netherlands. This brief now turns to the single payer system used by Canada.

The second brief in this series dealt with the insurance mandate systems used by Austria and Germany to finance UHC. This brief reviews the two tier systems of Israel and the Netherlands. Two-tier health care is so named because it involves a publically funded basic health package being provided, with a secondary private tier of additional – and often better quality – services available for those who can afford it.

The first brief in this series introduced the concept of Universal Health Coverage, as defined by the World Health Organisation. It looked at how the NHI White Paper released late last year conceives of UHC, and posited that this ambitious single payer system should not be rushed into before other financing systems are considered. This brief describes the UHC systems in Austria and Germany.

The first brief in a five part series contributed to by both Andrew Barlow and Charles Simkins. This brief plays a general and introductory role; as well as considering the conditions needed for UHC success.

This Brief looks at the science behind marijuana and discusses that marijuana is not as bad as Governments want us to think.

Andrew Barlow looks at the UK's NHS - an internationally lauded and nationally loved single-payer universal health care system - and how the many issues its faces are relevant to the recent NHI White Paper and its proposals to implement a similar system here in South Africa.

This Brief looks at the issues at the Health Professions Council of South Africa as well as discusses the Minister of Health's Ministerial Task Team's Report.

This Brief deals with the genetic link requirement in section 294 of the Children's Act which deals with surrogacy agreements and genetic origin of a child, being declared invalid by the High Court in Pretoria.

This Brief discusses the amendment to Regulation 8 of the Medical Schemes Act and what it actually means to members of medical schemes and other stakeholders.

A discussion about Organ Donor Agencies and their regulation in South Africa.

Part 1 in this series provides a summary of the Court's decision in Stransham-Ford.

This brief reviews the Minister of Health's comments on the Medical Malpractice Issues in the Health Sector and responses to such comments

A discussion of the international egg donation programmes which are exploiting South African women amongst other women for the selling of their eggs. The procedures of the egg extractions are also discussed.

This special Brief is a report back on the Competition Commission's Market Inquiry into the Private Healthcare Sector conference.

This Brief reports on a recent seminar hosted by the Albertina Sisulu Executive Leadership Programme addressing the progress and challenges facing National Health Insurance. The Brief focuses on the NHI pilot districts, the concept of Universal Coverage, and raises questions about financing healthcare.

This brief aims to explain the key differences between medical schemes and health insurance and why demarcation between the two is important. Medical schemes, under the protection of the regulation of the Medical Schemes Act, have a large part to play in ensuring the right of access to healthcare. Similar protection is not afforded to other health insurance products. The right to healthcare may, therefore, be watered down if insurance companies, which are not governed by the Medical Schemes Act, are permitted to provide health insurance products similar to those provided by medical schemes.