Issued by: National Department of Health
MEDIA RELEASE
FIRST NATIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY FOR SOUTH AFRICA
The Department of Health is to conduct the first ever National Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in the country to determine the health status of South Africans.
The DHS, which will be the biggest ever health survey in South Africa, begins next week in all the nine provinces. The survey will not only give detailed information of the country's health status, but will also provide baseline information from which the impact of the transformation in health care delivery can be measured over time.
Information from the survey will be used to evaluate health plans and programmes of the department, to show patterns and provide data on diseases, birth, deaths, immunisation coverages, substance abuse, nutritional status, contraceptive use, rape and violence, and many other health issues.
The Department and other interested parties will also use the results of the survey to evaluate perceptions on several issues on health, in order to improve health care and to meet the needs of the population.
Reliable information on the health status and needs of the different sectors of the population and the different communities will help the Department of Health to better allocate resources, and most importantly, to plan for appropriate health services.
On the importance of this benchmark survey, Director-General of the Department of Health, Dr Olive Shisana, said it would help to standardise data so that the country had truly national and provincial rates. "For instance, a country's infant mortality rate gives a very good indication of its health status and development. Yet in South Africa, depending on the context and where the data came from, we have at least two different mortality rates. The lack of this basic information makes it very difficult to allocate resources and plan appropriate health services. We hope the results of this survey will iron out these problems.
The survey, developed and coordinated by the Department of Health and the Medical Research Council, is funded by the Department and USAID. The fieldwork will be conducted by a partnership team from the Centre of Health Systems Research and Development at the University of the Free State and King Finance Corporation.
Research will be conducted on 12 000 households throughout the country, using over 200 fieldworkers. The fieldworkers, who will all carry special identity cards with a photograph to facilitate access into homes, have all received intensive and specific three-week training to do the job.
Research work is expected to be completed in August and a preliminary report will be released by the end of the year. In order to evaluate progress on major health indicators, the Department of Health hopes to repeat the survey every five years.
The National and Provincial Departments of Health request all South Africans to support the survey.
For more details contact:
National Department of Health Dr Andi Makubalo 012 312 0774 Dr Gonda Perez 012 312 0165
Medical Research Council Dr Debbie Bradshaw 021 938 0427