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South Africa Health System

South Africa has a healthcare system which is structured at different levels. There are clinics, community health centers, and hospitals. The first level in the hospital structures are the clinics which treat the common needs of the people. It is these clinics that will refer someone further to the hospitals when one needs the further treatment. The clinics are either satellite or mobile clinics which are run by primary healthcare nurses. The community health centers are larger than the clinics and they have both nurses and doctors taking care of the patients. The last level of healthcare facilities are hospitals. The hospitals are for surgery, serious illnesses or emergency treatment that cannot be handled at the clinic levels. An individual can only go to the hospitals if they are referred by doctors in the clinics or in the case of an emergency. Basic healthcare is provided for free by the government through the healthcare services at the provincial level (Masquillier et al., 2015). There is also private healthcare insurance and those who get it receive tax benefits.

There are several gaps that are present in the healthcare gaps in South Africa that have contributed to the rapid spread of the HIV pandemic. South Africa has one of the highest HIV epidemics in the world with over seven million people living with it (Masquillier et al., 2015). The spread of HIV has been caused by gaps which are there in dealing with healthcare awareness for marginalized groups. There are several demographics who do not get the sexual health care that they need such as sex workers, transgender women, gay men, as well as those who inject themselves with various drugs. The second gap that is there is lack of sufficient funds to get people to test for HIV. There is also lack of sufficient facilities to serve poor populations especially in slums to give them access to critical drugs such as ARVs. The healthcare system does not have sufficient capacity to deal with nutritional issues.

One strategy that can be used to deal with the HIV/AIDs issue in South Africa is raising of public awareness through door to door campaigns especially in the slum areas. It is important for everyone to understand the importance of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. The local community needs also to realize that it is not good to have stigmatization of the minority groups such as gay men who do not get the healthcare which they deserve. All of this should be done to ensure that these groups of people are getting the care that they need. The importance of ARVs should also be emphasized for those already suffering from the disease to get the treatment that they deserve. The healthcare clinics in the community should also be encouraged to teach people on the value of nutrition when dealing with HIV.

There are various options that are there for financing of this strategy. Internally, the government has a healthcare budget and such a strategy can get funding from there. It is important for the government to improve its healthcare allocation specifically to HIV to deal with the situation before it gets worse. Globally, organizations such as USAID and the World Healthcare Organization (WHO) can come in and deal with the problem.

References

Masquillier, C., Wouters, E., Mortelmans, D., & le Roux Booysen, F. (2015). The impact of community support initiatives on the stigma experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. AIDS and Behavior, 19(2), 214-226.