ArticleBMC health services research2021
Is South Africa closing the health gaps between districts? Monitoring progress towards universal health service coverage with routine facility data.
Article in BMC health services research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Acceptability of Hypertension Quality Indicators in Primary Care in South Africa: Exploratory Implementation Research.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Understanding barriers to treatment-seeking in Mseleni joint disease: A multistaged study in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2026Article
- Trends in Tuberculosis Incidence and Mortality in South Africa and Bulgaria (2000-2023): The Impact of Income, Poverty, Unemployment, and Universal Health Coverage.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Enhancing the User Experience of a Perioperative Digital Health Tool for Information Exchange Using a Human-Centered Design Thinking Approach: Qualitative Observational Study.JMIR perioperative medicine · 2026Observational
- An audit of completeness of Road to Health Booklet at a community health centre in South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- District-level monitoring of universal health coverage, India.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2024Article
- Article
- Indicators of integrating oral health care within universal health coverage and general health care in low-, middle-, and high-income countries: a scoping review.BMC oral health · 2023Article
- Health service utilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020: a multicountry empirical assessment with a focus on maternal, newborn and child health services.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- Essential health services delivery in South Africa during COVID-19: Community and healthcare worker perspectives.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Strengthening routine health information systems for analysis and data use: a tipping point.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Multimorbidity in South Africa: Is the health system ready?Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSouth Africa is committed to advancing universal health coverage (UHC). The usefulness and potential of using routine health facility data for monitoring progress towards UHC, in the form of the 16-tracer WHO service coverage index (SCI), was assessed.
methodsAlternative approaches to calculating the WHO SCI from routine data, allowing for disaggregation to district level, were explored. Data extraction, coding, transformation and modelling processes were applied to generate time series for these alternatives. Equity was assessed using socio-economic quintiles by district.
resultsThe UHC SCI at a national level was 46.1 in 2007-2008 and 56.9 in 2016-2017. Only for the latter period, could the index be calculated for all indicators at a district level. Alternative indicators were formulated for 9 of 16 tracers in the index. Routine or repeated survey data could be used for 14 tracers. Apart from the NCD indicators, a gradient of poorer performance in the most deprived districts was evident in 2016-2017.
conclusionsIt is possible to construct the UHC SCI for South Africa from predominantly routine data sources. Overall, there is evidence from district level data of a trend towards reduced inequity in relation to specific categories (notably RMNCH). Progress towards UHC has the potential to overcome fragmentation and enable harmonisation and interoperability of information systems. Private sector reporting of data into routine information systems should be encouraged.
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