Systematizing Information Use to Address Determinants of Health Worker Health in South Africa: A Cross-sectional Mixed Method Study

Occupational Health Barriers in South Africa: A Call for Ubuntu

“…• Access to OH services is a right recognized by the United Nations, and it is the responsibility of the employer to provide and fund [8,20]. However, in our setting, there are no clearly ringfenced budgets for OH, and managers do not budget for OH services [14,15]. Furthermore, while facilities may have OH professionals rendering services, they are not always present in sufficient numbers or adequately trained.…”

“…While the authors have vast experience in establishing and implementing OH and IPC measures for HWs, the main source for the current viewpoint was during the period 2020-2023 wherein the authors, using participatory action research principles to strengthen OH, implemented a COVID-19 OH intervention study. This was a quasi-experimental study utilising a mixed methodological approach, which compared changes in OH systems using the WHO's six building blocks of a health systems [16], pre versus post with two concurrent interventions, namely the occupational health and safety information system (OHASIS) [15] and International Labour Organization (ILO) and WHO's HealthWISE tool [14].…”

“…Further, we observed that passive leadership and stewardship on OH services by top management and trade union representatives negatively affect the implementation of OH interventions. Since management is accountable for OH, the continued lack of use of effective intelligence systems for OH decision-making is another challenge [15], which is compounded by the lack of appropriate procedures in OH governance systems.…”

“…• Information and information systems on OH are generally poor in the facilities and unable to provide OH intelligence for decision-making [15]. An intervention study examining the installation, establishment, and utilization of an OH and safety information system failed to be implemented during the stipulated study period, further raising the question about the culture of OH [15].…”

“…Our observations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic indicate that OH services for HWs are not given adequate priority, potentially violating the principles of Ubuntu philosophy. Here we provide this viewpoint to share our lived experiences about the challenges in establishing or implementing, maintaining and sustaining OH, and IPC measures for HWs in public healthcare facilities in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic [12][13][14][15].…”