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This project has been funded by the European Union.

Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty

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Newsletter 35 – Why local government can be affected by health policies – 21 August 2009

‘A municipality must structure and manage its administration, and budgeting and planning processes to give priority to the basic needs of the community, and to promote the social and economic development of the community’, according to the Constitution.

A basic need in any community is the provision of primary health care through municipal health services. The extent to which this need is met depends, among other things, on the municipality, and the province in which a person resides. This week’s newsletter focuses on the deprivation index calculated in the District Health Barometer, published by the Health Systems Trust.

The deprivation index is a composite measure derived from a set of demographic and socio-economic variables. These variables include children below the age of 5; female-headed households; household heads with no schooling aged between 25 and 59, and who are classified as unemployed; households living in a traditional or informal dwelling; households without piped water in the dwelling or on site; households using a pit or bucket latrine or with no form of latrine; and households without  electricity or solar power for cooking, heating, or lighting. Scores between 1 and 5 are given by municipality, with 5 indicating the highest level of deprivation.
The province with the highest average deprivation score was KwaZulu-Natal with a score of 3.6. The Sisonke, Ugu, uMkhanyakude, uMzinyathi, uThukela, and Zululand district municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal had deprivation levels of 4.1, 3.8, 4.5, 4.6, 3.7, and 4.2 respectively. uMzinyathi had the highest deprivation level of all municipalities in the country.
The West Coast district municipality in the Western Cape had the best, or lowest, deprivation score for three consecutive years, with scores of 1.0, 0.8 and 0.9 in 2005, 2006, and 2007 respectively. The West Coast was followed by the Namakwa district municipality with a score of 1.0 in 2007.
Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay had scores of 1.2 and 1.6. The cities of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Tshwane, and eThekwini scored lower at 1.8, 1.6, 1.9, and 1.8 respectively.
The barometer also ranked all district and metropolitan municipalities according to their deprivation scores. The top-ranked municipality was the West Coast district municipality in the Western Cape, followed by the Namakwa district municipality in the Northern Cape. The next four positions were taken by municipalities in the Western Cape.
The municipality ranked 52nd, which means that it had the worst score of all 52 district and metropolitan municipalities, was the Umzinyathi district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. Umzinyathu is located in the centre of the province, and includes towns such as Dundee, Tugela Ferry, and Greytown. Six of the eleven district municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal were ranked in the bottom ten out of the 52 municipalities.
The next newsletter will focus on some of the health indicators in the Barometer, such as clinics, HIV/AIDS infections, and TB cure rates.
The Municipal Outreach Project aims to provide extensive research to municipalities covered by the project. This will be done by means of publications, the project website, and workshops. A monthly publication called Fast Facts for Local Government (F3LG) is sent to local councillors, officials, and development organisations in the eight municipalities covered by the project. A weekly newsletter is posted on the project website on Fridays, and e-mailed to project beneficiaries. The annual South Africa Survey, published by the Institute, will be posted to municipalities and extracts posted on the project website.
- Nthamaga Kgafela
by nkgafela — last modified 2009-08-21 07:16
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