A model for the integration of primary health-care services in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

To analyse integrated primary health care and ultimately develop a model for integrated care. In South Africa, Integration of Services Policy was enacted in 1996 with the aim of increasing health service utilization. However, the problem with the policy arises in the implementation of integrated primary health care as there is no agreed understanding of what this phenomenon means in the South African context. A cross-sectional study, using Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory approach was utilised. Policy makers as well as primary health care nurses at functional level participated in the study. The data was collected by means of observations and interviews. The sample size for interviews comprised 38 participants. Integrated primary health care was understood either as comprehensive health care, supermarket approach or one-stop shop. It was concluded that integrated primary health care meant different things in different contexts. Integrated primary health care, if implemented, would advance health equity in all countries rich and poor and, as a result, promote human and national development. This model could be used to guide policy formulation and implementation of integrated primary health care at provincial and national levels.