Page 23 - SAMRC Strategic Plan

PART B: SAMRC STRATEGIC FOCUS
continued

10.4.1. External environmental analysis SADHS 2003 and 2016 means service delivery and
10.4.1.1. National Department of Health health programmes implemented then were with
The National Health Act (2003) set the mandate for outdated information.
the National Department of Health and provides a
framework for a structured and uniform health system The 2016 SADHS was conducted through
for South Africa. Among other responsibilities, the partnership between SAMRC and Statistics South
National Health Act (NHA) requires the Minister to Africa (Stats SA) under the leadership of the NDOH.
determine the policies and measures necessary to The primary objective of the SADHS 2016 was
protect, promote, improve and maintain the health to provide estimates of basic demographic and
and well-being of the population. In line with the health indicators. Information collected in 2016
aforementioned requirements in the NHA, the included fertility levels; marriage status; sexual
SAMRC Act, provides for the establishment of the activity; fertility preferences; awareness and use of
SAMRC and its role in relation to health research, contraceptives; breastfeeding practices; nutrition;
including undertaking the investigations or research childhood and maternal mortality; maternal health,
which the Minister may assign to it, advising the including antenatal and postnatal care; key aspects
Minister on the determination of policy and national of child health, including immunisation coverage
priorities regarding research and development, and prevalence and treatment of acute respiratory
promotion, implementation and coordination of infection (ARI), fever, and diarrhoea; potential
research on a national basis. exposure to the risk of HIV infection; coverage of
HIV counselling and testing (HCT); and physical and
Over the years the SAMRC has conducted several sexual violence against women.
studies and surveys that provide information that
was used by the Department and government in In preparation for the fourth SADHS, which is
general for planning and assessing progress towards expected to be conducted in 2025, the NDOH with
realising government’s objectives. In the next support from the United Nations Population Fund
planning period, the SAMRC will assist the NDOH in (UNFPA) convened a high-level technical meeting in
the realisation of the following projects: April 2024. The objective of this meeting was to plan
and discuss critical aspects in the planning of the
(a) South African Demographic Health Survey fourth SADHS. In terms of the concept note, it was
(SADHS proposed that the following committee and teams
The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are a be formed from the key stakeholders:
standard series of national level surveys, conducted • The steering committee: will facilitate the survey
every five years, focused on population demographic plan, budget, and implementation. The members
and primary healthcare indicators using a core set of the committee will be from the NDOH, the
of questionnaires and a standard implementation SAMRC, international advisors (ICF and WHO)
module developed by USAID DHS programme on and potential funding agencies (i.e., USAID,
collection of data on population health and access UNICEF, UNFPA, BMGF, Global Fund)
to healthcare provides internationally comparable • Project management team: will be convened by
country level data. DHS is essential for the provision the Steering Committee to manage the protocol,
of timely information about the health of the nation budget, implementation, and reporting.
and for monitoring and evaluation. Throughout • Technical teams: will also be convened and will
30 years of democracy, South Africa has conducted be responsible for determining the sampling
three DHS (1998, 2003 and 2016). The five-year cycle size, sampling strategy, questionnaire designs,
of the DHS is important for the provision of timely biological measurements, data collection,
and up-to-date estimates and enables proper policy analysis and reporting.
and decision making and ultimately leads to better
strategies for improving service delivery and health It is estimated that the fourth SADHS process, from
of the nation. The thirteen-year gap between the start to release of the final report, will take twenty-

22 SAMRC STRATEGIC PLAN 2025/26 – 2029/30