A lack of privacy, scarcity of lubricants and key population groups allegedly being denied antiretrovirals (ARVs) are some of the issues highlighted in the latest State of South African Healthcare Report.
The third, recently-released edition from community monitoring group Ritshidze – State of Healthcare for Key Populations Report – outlines the major challenges faced by the public when seeking care at government facilities.
News24 reports that data for the report were collected between July and September last year across 24 districts in seven provinces.
The report defines “key populations” as people living with HIV/Aids, sex workers, people addicted to drugs, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who frequently face uncaring, disrespectful, cruel and even abusive treatment at public health facilities.
“Frequently, people are laughed at and judged, and, at worst, denied services or chased away. It can be unbearable as this leaves deep scars and ultimately forces some people to stop going to the clinic entirely,” says the report.
A sex worker, who went to Kingsway Municipal Clinic in Ekurhuleni in March last year, reportedly said she was humiliated, being told by a nurse that “I should stop prostitution because I will kill people’s children with Aids, and that I disgusted her”.
A trans woman from North West told researchers she was raped in June last year, and when she arrived at the clinic, “I was told that gays like to sleep around, and that they did not believe I had been raped”.
According to the report, 57% of gay people, bisexual people, and men who have sex with men (GBMSM), 61% of trans people, 65% of sex workers, and 74% of people who use drugs, said confidentiality violations were abundant in public health facilities.
Meanwhile, 8% of GBMSM, 10% of trans people, 11% of sex workers, and 31% of drug users claimed they had been denied ARVs and other health services entirely in the past year.
The report recommended there be a culture change in public health facilities, otherwise such ill-treatment and hostility will persist.
“To function effectively, key population-friendly staff members must be recruited to provide a full package of clinical services and the expertise needed,” the report states.
"The Department of Health, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Global Fund must support our public healthcare system to do much better and faster," the report states.
The report will be forwarded to the Department of Health for attention.
Ritshidze-State-of-Healthcare-for-Key-Populations-2024
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Free State worst performer in ARV dispensing, survey finds
How Mpumalanga Health is addressing clinic challenges
KZN leads in some health services, lags in others – Ritshidze report