The value of the WIRHE Scholarship Programme in training health professionals for rural areas: Views of participants

Abstract

IntroductionRural hospitals in South Africa, as elsewhere, face enduring shortages of, and challenges in attracting and retaining, suitably qualified staff. The Wits Initiative for Rural Health Education (WIRHE), based at the University of the Witwatersrand but covering three universities, is a rural scholarship programme established to find local solutions to these challenges in the North West and Mpumalanga provinces. The purpose of this evaluation was to ascertain whether the WIRHE project was achieving its objectives.MethodsThis article draws from an evaluation commissioned by the Swiss-South African Cooperative Initiative, a major funder of the programme when WIRHE was launched in 2003. Qualitative interviews were conducted either as face-to-face meetings or telephonically with 21 WIRHE students and graduates. Content analysis was undertaken to identify common themes.ResultsThere was a consistency in the findings as the students and graduates reported similar experiences. Many of the participants were overwhelmed by their initial challenges of having to adapt to a different language, an institutional culture and resources that they previously did not have access to. The participants acknowledged the role of WIRHE staff in facilitating the transition from home to university and, in particular, the value of the financial and academic support. The geographic distance to Wits presented a challenge for the Pretoria- and Sefako Makgatho-based students. The holiday work affirmed clinical advantages for WIRHE students and heightened students’ interest in becoming healthcare workers.ConclusionWIRHE’s key success factors are the financial, academic and emotional support offered to students. WIRHE achieved its objectives based on a principled strategic approach and an understanding that students from rural backgrounds are more likely to return to rural areas. The study supports the value of structured support programmes for students of rural origin as they pursue their studies.

Development, Objectives and Operation of Return-of-Service Bursary Schemes as an Investment to Build Health Workforce Capacity in South Africa: A Multi-Methods Study

“…It is therefore commendable to note actions by the Limpopo and Western Cape provincial policies, which accommodate variations of contracts for those intending to further their studies or specialise. Cognisant of the complexities of shortages and maldistribution of health professionals in underserved areas, RoS schemes cannot succeed if they operate in isolation from other existing human resource recruitment and retention policies and programs [1,2,[75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87].…”

Colonised medicine and transformative learning – Lessons from Downs’ book: Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine

“…A prevailing perception was of students who were ill-prepared for university studies, particularly if they matriculated from poorly resourced schools in rural and underserved areas within SA. What was overlooked was the impact of a teaching and learning approach that had not embraced the diversity of learning experiences, diversity of contexts, diversity of skills and a range of personal experiences derived and defined by spaces that were occupied by the learners prior to them becoming university students 8 . Thus, beyond #FeesMustFall, the urgency was in defining initiatives to decolonise and facilitate the pursuance of a transforming curriculum.…”

Contribution of a bonded scholarship scheme to staffing rural health facilities

“…In SA there have been a number of government, university and private sector initiatives aimed at addressing the staffing challenges in rural public healthcare facilities (PHCFs). These include provincial bursary programmes in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and Free State provinces, [12] the Cuban collaboration programme between the SA government and the Cuban government [13] and a focus on selection of rural-origin students at universities (for example at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, [14] the Wits Initiative for Rural Health Education (WIRHE) programme run at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) [15] as well as the Umthombo Youth Development Foundation (UYDF) Scholarship Scheme.) [16] Although Motala [17] reported in 2019 that the graduates from Cuba were fulfilling their obligations to work in rural communities, this conclusion was based on interviewing only 20 graduates, of whom 19 had worked in rural healthcare facilities.…”