Research from University of KwaZulu-Natal Yields New Data on Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice (Policy developer’s perceptions on the implementation of National Health Insurance in South Africa: a qualitative study): Drugs and Therapies – Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice

2023 MAY 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in pharmaceutical policy and practice. According to news reporting from the University of KwaZulu-Natal by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Universal health coverage has gained significant momentum internationally as the policy solution to address healthcare system deficiencies and promote equitable distribution of quality healthcare. The South African government has adopted this option and developed policy papers for discussion on a National Health Insurance (NHI) system for South Africa.”

The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from University of KwaZulu-Natal: “A large part of the policy has been focused on promoting functionality of the primary healthcare system (PHC); to promote an efficient referral pathway. This study sought to explore potential barriers perceived by policy developers that could hinder achieving the NHI goal. Furthermore, given that a large focus is centred on PHC re-engineering, it was imperative to understand participant’s opinions and perspectives on the role of a pharmacist at this level. A qualitative research design was adopted in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten policy developers that were selected via a referral technique. These were audio recorded using a digital voice recorder on an online platform, transcribed verbatim and saved on Microsoft Word® documents. NVivo®, was utilized to facilitate the analysis of data. A thematic analytical approach was used to categorize codes into themes. The findings revealed that participants were in agreement that healthcare system reform is crucial in promoting equitable distribution of healthcare services in South Africa. However, the reality of this is dependent on addressing key concerns perceived by participants that have been reported as three major themes: (1) the benefit of NHI implementation; (2) concerns about NHI implementation; (3) implications for pharmacy.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “South Africa is in the second phase of NHI implementation. This phase is focused on the development of sound NHI legislation and structures. This study identified a number of concerns regarding legislative anomalies and role-player involvement that could compromise the efficient implementation of NHI.”

For more information on this research see: Policy developer’s perceptions on the implementation of National Health Insurance in South Africa: a qualitative study. Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, 2023,16(1):1-18. (Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice - https://joppp.biomedcentral.com/). The publisher for Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-023-00564-x.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Vivian Naidoo, Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus. Additional authors for this research include Fatima Suleman, Varsha Bangalee.

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