Department of Sociologyhttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/145162024-03-28T16:53:12Z2024-03-28T16:53:12ZThe implementation of the National Health Insurance Pilot Program in the Tshwane District: Learning from Stakeholders in the Healthcare SectorWonci, Sivuyisiwehttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/307752024-02-23T07:46:26Z2022-12-12T00:00:00ZThe implementation of the National Health Insurance Pilot Program in the Tshwane District: Learning from Stakeholders in the Healthcare Sector
Wonci, Sivuyisiwe
The National Health Insurance is a health financing system that aims to redistribute South Africa’s financial resources by pooling funds from the public and purchasing healthcare services on behalf of the population from accredited private and public service providers. Part of transitioning from the current healthcare system to the NHI policy involved the implementation of the NHI pilot program in eleven districts across South Africa. The objective of this doctoral thesis was to evaluate the implementation of the NHI pilot in the Tshwane District. This was done by conducted 72 in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions with policymakers, government officials and healthcare workers. Findings from this study show that what was piloted during the NHI pilot program in South Africa is not what was supposed to be piloted. Disagreements between the National Department of Health and Treasury led to a compromised NHI pilot program which implemented the primary healthcare reengineering strategies instead of setting up the NHI Fund and testing how pilot districts would purchase healthcare services on behalf of the population. The results show that PHC strategies that were tested during the NHI pilot program in Tshwane District such as General Practitioner Contracting, District Clinical Specialist Teams, Centralised Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution, Integrated School Health Service, and the Ward-based Outreach Teams improved the delivery of healthcare services in public health facilities and the communities. However, shortages in medical equipment and medication, deteriorating infrastructure, water and electricity cuts, lack of human resources, labour unrest and precarious work contracts made it difficult for these PHC interventions to achieve their intended goals. This thesis locates the NHI pilot program within the politics of evidence-based policy in health policymaking in which government officials, policymakers, and healthcare workers with different pockets of power shape the process of implementation of pilot programs.
2022-12-12T00:00:00ZBuilding feminist solidarities: the case study of Mujeres CreandoVicente, Andresa Natacha Gomes de Almeidahttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/305122023-09-19T06:53:37Z2022-01-01T00:00:00ZBuilding feminist solidarities: the case study of Mujeres Creando
Vicente, Andresa Natacha Gomes de Almeida
The case study of Bolivian radical feminist group Mujeres Creando is aimed at
exploring both the micro and macropolitical challenges to and strategies for
building feminist solidarities within the broader context of globalised neoliberal
capitalism. The main research question orienting this study is: What would
feminist activism look like if it addressed both macro and micropolitical factors in
a way that led to the formation of anti-capitalist subjectivities and sustainable
environments? The anticipated outcome of this research project is the
achievement of a better understanding of how the feminist notion that the
personal is political is the basis for the formulation of alternative forms of theory
and praxis leading to emancipatory social change and the emergence of
egalitarian and sustainable democratic realities. Feminist insights on subjectivity
formation and coalition-building offer valuable conceptual material with the
potential for innovation from which to re-imagine and re-construct the social
realities of women and, by extension, of all members of society. The
methodological framework for this study is qualitative discourse analysis. The aim
of this research is not to impose predetermined concepts for testing, but rather to
provide a framework for an iterative process, comprising the dual movements of
exploration and interpretation, where theory and hypotheses are developed in the
course of the study in contribution to existing dialogues on the subject of feminist
solidarity building. As the type of data studied is not amenable to quantitative
analysis, a qualitative design is better suited to the subjective nature of the matter
and my need to access unquantifiable aspect about the members of Mujeres
Creando, such as the effects of discursive colonisation on the lives and struggles
of marginalised women, how they make sense of their socio-political context and
engage with dominant discursive practices on a daily basis. All the data for this
thesis was gathered exclusively by means of qualitative discourse analysis.
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZA Quantitative Investigation of Factors Influencing Binge Drinking Behavior amongst Undergraduate University Students in Johannesburg, South AfricaBayane, Percyvalhttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/302762023-07-11T13:37:40Z2023-06-28T00:00:00ZA Quantitative Investigation of Factors Influencing Binge Drinking Behavior amongst Undergraduate University Students in Johannesburg, South Africa
Bayane, Percyval
The paper investigates factors influencing binge drinking behavior among university undergraduate students. Data is drawn from a quantitative survey conducted on undergraduate students’ perceptions of peer pressure, students living arrangement, socio-economic status and binge drinking at a South African university. 330 students participated in the study by completing a paper-based survey. The study found a statistically significant correlation between factors of peer pressure, students staying off-campus, high socio-economic status and binge drinking. Female students engage in binge drinking more than male students. Students with friends who drink were more likely to engage in binge drinking than those with friends drinking less. Students living off campus were more likely to engage in binge drinking of alcohol than those staying on campus. Students with high socioeconomic status were more likely to engage in binge drinking than those with low socioeconomic status. The paper makes an empirical contribution to future studies to explore binge drinking behavior amongst university students.
2023-06-28T00:00:00ZThabo Mbeki: an intellectual biographyNdhlovu, Maanda Luxioushttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/302642023-07-05T06:46:02Z2022-09-01T00:00:00ZThabo Mbeki: an intellectual biography
Ndhlovu, Maanda Luxious
Generally, this study contributes toward efforts to privilege African thinkers and
scholars who have been and continue to be the victim of epistemic closure and
silencing by Western (Euro-North American) scholarship and epistemic practice. This
is framed through the intellectual biography of Thabo Mbeki in order to bring to the
fore the evidence that could be used to advance this argument. The engagement with
Mbeki's intellectual thought and ideas is approached from four different entry points
and perspectives. Firstly, this study traces and locates the historical and intellectual
context of Mbeki within the black intellectual tradition finding its roots in the New Africa
Movement (1862-1960) of the nineteenth century, consisting of religious leaders,
teachers, writers, and graduates who used the acquisition of modern colonial
education to identify themselves as New Africans (specifically New African
intellectuals). Secondly, it provides that Mbeki’s intellectual thought is a product of the
teachings and examples of the liberation movement’s leaders within the ANC, an
organisation steeped in rich intellectual tradition and thought leadership. Third is the
travel of the world which exposed Mbeki to the Western education and liberal political
tradition in Britain, the communist training and Marxist-Lenin political thought in the
Soviet Union, as well as African political thought acquired during the period spent in
Africa. Finally, this includes a critical analysis of Mbeki’s thoughts and perspectives on
politics, ideas, and power, as the three thematic areas of this study in order to
understand the thrust of Mbeki’s intellectual thought. Read together, these aspects not
only contextualise and position Mbeki as an intellectual that he is, but they also reflect
his intellectual dimensions and contribution to the body of knowledge. It should be
noted that the intellectual thought of Mbeki and his political ideas can be convincing
and not convincing depending on the position from which the truth is being looked at from. In the main, this study seeks to position, privilege, and defend Mbeki as a political
intellectual that he is.
2022-09-01T00:00:00Z