New Findings from University of KwaZulu-Natal in the Area of Primary Care and Family Medicine Published (National Health Insurance – knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists): Health and Medicine – Primary Care and Family Medicine

2025 JUN 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Business Daily -- Data detailed on primary care and family medicine have been presented. According to news originating from the University of KwaZulu-Natal by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The South African government signed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into effect on 15th of May 2024 to ensure that all citizens have access to high-quality healthcare, regardless of their financial situation.”

The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from University of KwaZulu-Natal: “While this initiative will impact all healthcare professionals, there is limited information on how speech-language therapists (SLTs) perceive its implementation in South Africa. The study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of SLTs in the public and private healthcare sectors related to service provision regarding the implementation of the NHI. This study was conducted virtually via Zoom (Zoom Video Communication, San Jose, California, United States) and Teams (Microsoft Teams, 2017) with SLTs in their respective settings in South Africa. The descriptive, qualitative research design involved virtual semi-structured interviews with 10 SLTs. NVivo software (QSR International, Victoria, Australia) was used to analyse the data, as guided by Tesch’s content analysis method. Eleven sub-themes emerged related to the three themes of knowledge (4 sub-themes), attitudes (4 sub-themes) and perceived impact (3 sub-themes) of NHI implementation on SLT services.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The study highlights SLTs’ knowledge, gaps and concerns about the impact of NHI implementation on their profession, emphasising the personal and professional areas that need to be addressed for its successful rollout. Understanding SLTs’ opinions will help address their concerns during the planning stages of integrating them into the NHI. This will lead to an equitable distribution of sufficient practitioners and ensure that many people benefit from its implementation.”

For more information on this research see: National Health Insurance - knowledge, attitude and perceptions of speech-language therapists. African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 2025,17(1):e1-e8. (African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine - http://www.phcfm.org). The publisher for African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine is AOSIS.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v17i1.4835.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Nomfundo Njilo, Department of Family Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. Additional authors for this research include Andrew J. Ross.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)