Re-organising primary health care to respond to the Coronavirus epidemic in Cape Town, South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorMash, Roberten_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGoliath, Charlynen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPerez, Gioen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-23T07:24:51Z
dc.date.available2022-03-23T07:24:51Z
dc.date.issued2020-11-05
dc.descriptionCITATION:Mash, Robert & Goliath, Charlyn & Perez, Gio. (2020). Re-organising primary health care to respond to the Coronavirus epidemic in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine. 12. 10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2607
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.phcfm.org
dc.description.abstractCape Town is currently one of the hotspots for COVID-19 on the African continent. The Metropolitan Health Services have re-organised their primary health care (PHC) services to tackle the epidemic with a community-orientated primary care perspective. Two key goals have guided the re-organisation, the need to maintain social distancing and reduce risk to people using the services and the need to prepare for an influx of people with COVID-19. Facilities were re-organised to have 'screening and streaming' at the entrance and patients were separated into hot and cold streams. Both streams had 'see and treat' stations for the rapid treatment of minor ailments. Patients in separate streams were then managed further. If patients with chronic conditions were stable, they were provided with home delivery of medication by community health workers. Community health workers also engaged in community-based screening and testing. Initial evaluation of PHC preparedness was generally good. However, a number of key issues were identified. Additional infrastructure was required in some facilities to keep the streams separate with the onset of winter. Managers had to actively address the anxiety and fears of the primary care workforce. Attention also needed to be given to the prevention and treatment of non-COVID conditions as utilisation of these services decreased. The epidemic exposed intersectoral and intrasectoral fault lines, particularly access to social services at a time when they were most needed. Community screening and testing had to be refocused due to limited laboratory capacity and a lengthening turnaround time.en_ZA
dc.format.extent4 pages
dc.identifier.citationMash, Robert & Goliath, Charlyn & Perez, Gio. (2020). Re-organising primary health care to respond to the Coronavirus epidemic in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine. 12. 10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2607
dc.identifier.issn(Online) 2071-2936
dc.identifier.issn(Print) 2071-2928
dc.identifier.otherdoi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2607
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/124350
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherAOSIS
dc.rights.holderAuthors retain copyright
dc.subjectprimary health careen_ZA
dc.subjectservice deliveryen_ZA
dc.subjectCOVID-19en_ZA
dc.subjectSARS-CoV-2en_ZA
dc.titleRe-organising primary health care to respond to the Coronavirus epidemic in Cape Town, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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