Browsing by Author "Burger, Cobus"

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    Patient predictors of health-seeking behaviour for persons coughing for more than two weeks in high-burden tuberculosis communities : the case of the Western Cape, South Africa
    (BMC (part of Springer Nature), 2019) Christian, Carmen; Burger, Cobus; Claassens, Mareli; Bond, Virginia; Burger, Ronelle
    Background: This study aimed to analyse the patient predictors of health-seeking behaviour for persons coughing for more than 2 weeks to better understand this vulnerable and important population. Methods: The study analysed data from a cohort study (SOCS - Secondary Outcome Cohort Study) embedded in a community randomised trial ZAMSTAR (Zambia and South Africa TB and AIDS Reduction Study) in eight high-burden TB communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. These datasets are unique as they contain TB-related data as well as data on health, health-seeking behaviour, lifestyle choices, employment, socio-economic status, education and stigma. We use uni- and multivariate logistic regressions to estimate the odds ratios of consulting for a cough (of more than 2 weeks duration) for a range of relevant patient predictors. Results: Three hundred and forty persons consulted someone about their cough and this represents 37% of the 922 participants who reported coughing for more than 2 weeks. In the multivariate analysis, respondents of black ethnic origin (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.28–3.12, P < 0.01), those with higher levels of education (OR 1.05 per year of education, 95% CI 1.00–1.10, P = 0.05), and older respondents (OR 1.02 per year, 95% CI 1.01–1.04, P < 0.01) had a higher likelihood of consulting for their chronic cough. Individuals who smoked (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.45–0.88, P < 0.01) and those with higher levels of socio-economic status (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.71–0.92, P < 0.01) were less likely to consult. We find no evidence of stigma playing a role in health-seeking decisions, but caution that this may be due to the difficulty of accurately and reliably capturing stigma due to, amongst other factors, social desirability bias. Conclusions: The low levels of consultation for a cough of more than 2 weeks suggest that there are opportunities to improve case-finding. These findings on health-seeking behaviour can assist policymakers in designing TB screening and active case-finding interventions that are targeted to the characteristics of those with a chronic cough who do not seek care.
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    A structural approach to modelling South African labour market decisions
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Burger, Cobus; Van der Berg, Servaas; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Youth unemployment is high in South Africa and especially high among black males. The slow absorption of young black males into the employment is somewhat surprising given that the descriptive statistics suggest that employment mobility in South Africa is high. In the first chapter, I investigate whether the labour market is truly as mobile as reported or whether the transition estimate is rather a reflection of misclassification error or unobserved individual heterogeneity. Thereafter, in chapter two, I proceed to examine the role of reservation wages on unemployment. Unlike previous studies I do not make use of self-reported reservation wages. Instead I use a job search model to recover the reservation wages that are consistent with the behaviour we observe in the labour market. In the final chapter, I look at the role of education on labour market outcomes. More specifically, at whether ability bias is present and whether current estimates are inflated. I do so through a dynamic programming model that mimics the schooling decision for forward-looking optimizing agents.