HIV poses greatest HR challenge

Health is faced with a double burden of having to cope with increased morbidity and mortality in its own ranks and having to shoulder the impact of the large and rapidly increasing disease burden in the general population, say Professor David Sanders and Dr Uta Lehman from the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape.

A Human Sciences Research Council study found that some 15,7% of health workers employed in public and private health facilities in the Free State, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the North West, were living with HIV/AIDS in 2002.

Among younger health workers (18-35 years) the prevalence was an estimated 20% HIV prevalence.

This added burden has also led to increased rates of absenteeism, as health workers have to care for sick family members and attend numerous funerals.

At the same time health workers bear the brunt of an increased disease burden and are expected to implement new initiatives and policies, often without additional staffing.

A study conducted by the Centre for Health Policy (CHP) at the University of the Witwatersrand found that the tuberculosis patient load (a good indicator of the changing clinical load related to HIV) had increased by 27% over a seven-month period.

Last year, a survey by the Health Systems Trust of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programme found that in some sites the additional workload generated by the programme ‘€œhas not been compensated for by any additional staff’€.

At a recent conference in the Free State, nurses and doctors expressed concern that the posts they had vacated to set up HIV/AIDS clinics in the hospitals remained vacant.

E-mail Anso Thom

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