Accessing community health services : challenges faced by poor people with disabilities in a rural community in South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorGrut, Lisbeten_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMij, Gubelaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorHellum Braathen, Stineen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorIngstad, Benedicteen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-03-10T09:59:33Z
dc.date.available2015-03-10T09:59:33Z
dc.date.issued2012-10
dc.descriptionCITATION: Grut, L., et al. 2012. Accessing community health services: Challenges faced by poor people with disabilities in a rural community in South Africa. African Journal of Disability, 1(1): 1-7, doi: 10.4102/ajod.v1i1.19.en_ZA
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.ajod.org
dc.description.abstractPoor people with disabilities who live in poor rural societies experience unique problems in accessing health services. Their situation is influenced by multiple factors which unfold and interplay throughout the person’s life course. The difficulties do not only affect the person with a disability and his or her family, but also impact on the relevant care unit. The barriers are rooted in a life in poverty, upheld and maintained by poverty-reinforcing social forces of the past and the present, and reinforced by the lack of the person’s perspective of the health services. This article explores how difficulties may interact and influence access to and utilisation of health services, and how this may render health services out of reach even when they are available. The study reveals that non-compliance is not necessarily about neglect but could as well be a matter of lived poverty. The study was based on in-depth interviews with people with disabilities and family members, and semi-structured interviews with health personnel. The data analysis is contextual and interpretive. When offering health services to people with disabilities living in resourcepoor settings, services should take into consideration the person’s history, the needs, and the resources and abilities of the family group. Rethinking access to health services should transcend a narrow medical institutionalisation of health professional’s training, and include a patient’s perspective and a social vision in understanding and practice. Such rethinking requires health service models that integrate the skills of health professionals with the skills of disabled people and their family members. Such skills lie dormant at community level, and need to be recognised and utilised.en
dc.description.urihttp://www.ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/19
dc.description.versionPublisher's version
dc.format.extent7 pages
dc.identifier.citationGrut, L., et al. 2012. Accessing community health services: Challenges faced by poor people with disabilities in a rural community in South Africa. African Journal of Disability, 1(1): 1-7, doi: 10.4102/ajod.v1i1.19en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn2226-7220 (online)
dc.identifier.issn2223-9170 (print)
dc.identifier.otherdoi: 10.4102/ajod.v1i1.19
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96239
dc.language.isoen_ZAen
dc.publisherAOSIS Publishing
dc.rights.holderAuthors retain copyright
dc.subjectRural poor -- Medical care -- -- South Africa -- Amathole District Municipalityen_ZA
dc.subjectPeople with disabilities -- Medical care -- -- South Africa -- Amathole District Municipalityen_ZA
dc.subjectCommunity health services -- South Africa -- Amathole District Municipalityen_ZA
dc.titleAccessing community health services : challenges faced by poor people with disabilities in a rural community in South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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