Healthcare Access in South Africa
South Africa has a population of 54 million people, with 200,000 health workers. The doctor patient ratio in the country therefore is one doctor to 270 people. Hospitals in the country are usually flocked with very many people, even though they cannot be able to cater for such a huge population. AitaHealth has therefore come up with an app named one app, which aims at providing healthcare without any problems at all in the country (Earl, n.p). The organization therefore offers training to health workers in the community, who then provide home treatment and counselling, which mainly focuses on precautionary care. The healthcare workers can therefore be able to visit their clients, either at home, at their workplace or at school. Moreover, the organization has collaborated with Vodafone, a telecommunication company, which helps in passing information concerning infections from AitaHealth to the government of South Africa. The application has therefore helped in reducing the issues of tuberculosis, where victims have been able to ask for assistance through the use of the app.
According to my point of view, I strongly believe that this app is going to help increase medical access to different people in the country (Earl, n.p). Moreover, it will also help in reducing the time wasted while queueing at the hospital in order to be assisted. More lives are therefore going to be saved, and more disease will also be treated hence making South Africa to be a healthier nation.
The government should work with AitaHealth, through providing the organization with financial support. This will consequently see the country moving forward, as it will be able to deal with the issue of poor healthcare services (Earl, n.p). Moreover, the government should also encourage its citizens to use the app instead of going to hospital, in order to reduce overpopulation in the hospitals. The society should also appreciate the services being offered by the organization, and thus people should be able to volunteer in giving support to the organization. This will consequently help in improving healthcare services in the country.
Work Cited
Earl Nurse. The App making Healthcare Accessible in South Africa. Cnn.com. 2017. Retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/02/africa/alf-aitahealth-app-healthcare/index.html
