Peter Barron
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View article: Monitoring District Health System performance in South Africa: A proposed dashboard based on key pragmatic indicators
Monitoring District Health System performance in South Africa: A proposed dashboard based on key pragmatic indicators Open
Effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems are central to ensuring the performance and accountability of the district health system (DHS). Current systems in South Africa are suboptimal and poorly oriented to the decision-making nee…
View article: Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring system as a source of information on health system responsiveness in South Africa
Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring system as a source of information on health system responsiveness in South Africa Open
Ritshidze is a large-scale community-led monitoring (CLM) system in South Africa, which has been conducting quarterly surveys of patient experiences at >400 primary healthcare facilities and community sites since 2019. This in-practice pie…
View article: Systematic hand-held echocardiography in patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome
Systematic hand-held echocardiography in patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome Open
Aims Transthoracic echocardiography is recommended in all patients with acute coronary syndrome but is time-consuming and lacks an evidence base. We aimed to assess the feasibility, diagnostic accuracy, and time efficiency of hand-held ech…
View article: Community-led monitoring and the role of Ritshidze in improving the quality of primary healthcare in South Africa
Community-led monitoring and the role of Ritshidze in improving the quality of primary healthcare in South Africa Open
Community-led monitoring (CLM) of health services is a mechanism of community participation and accountability that is increasingly advocated across the globe. In South Africa (SA), a large-scale community-led monitoring initiative called …
View article: HIV programme sustainability in Southern and Eastern Africa and the changing role of external assistance for health
HIV programme sustainability in Southern and Eastern Africa and the changing role of external assistance for health Open
High human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–prevalence countries in Southern and Eastern Africa continue to receive substantial external assistance (EA) for HIV programming, yet countries are at risk of transitioning out of HIV aid without ach…
View article: District Health System performance in South Africa: Are current monitoring systems optimal?
District Health System performance in South Africa: Are current monitoring systems optimal? Open
In this article, we review the monitoring and evaluation system that is used to measure the performance of primary healthcare delivered through the district health system and district management teams. We then review some global frameworks…
View article: Recovering from COVID lockdowns: Routine public sector PHC services in South Africa, 2019 - 2021
Recovering from COVID lockdowns: Routine public sector PHC services in South Africa, 2019 - 2021 Open
Background. In a previous article on the impact of COVID-19, the authors compared access to routine health services between 2019 and 2020. While differential by province, a number of services provided, as reflected in the District Health I…
View article: Investigating the quality of HIV rapid testing practices in public antenatal health care facilities, South Africa
Investigating the quality of HIV rapid testing practices in public antenatal health care facilities, South Africa Open
Monitoring HIV prevalence using antenatal HIV sentinel surveillance is important for efficient epidemic tracking, programme planning and resource allocation. HIV sentinel surveillance usually employs unlinked anonymous HIV testing which ra…
View article: Teenage births and pregnancies in South Africa, 2017 - 2021 – a reflection of a troubled country: Analysis of public sector data
Teenage births and pregnancies in South Africa, 2017 - 2021 – a reflection of a troubled country: Analysis of public sector data Open
Articles on teenage pregnancies have been proliferating in both the popular press and the medical media. We analysed data available in the public sector database, the District Health Information System, from 2017 to 2021. During this time,…
View article: Investigating the quality of HIV rapid testing practices in public antenatal health care facilities, South Africa
Investigating the quality of HIV rapid testing practices in public antenatal health care facilities, South Africa Open
Monitoring HIV prevalence using antenatal HIV sentinel surveillance is important for efficient epidemic tracking, programme planning and resource allocation. HIV sentinel surveillance usually employs unlinked anonymous HIV testing which ra…
View article: Impact of COVID-19 on routine primary healthcare services in South Africa
Impact of COVID-19 on routine primary healthcare services in South Africa Open
The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including different levels of lockdowns, the limitation of health services, lack of staff as a result of COVID-19 infection, and fear and stigma, resulted in a reduction in access to routine health s…
View article: Avoiding the Road to Nowhere: Policy Insights on Scaling up and Sustaining Digital Health
Avoiding the Road to Nowhere: Policy Insights on Scaling up and Sustaining Digital Health Open
Digital health solutions offer tremendous potential to enhance the reach and quality of health services and population‐level outcomes in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). While the number of programs reaching scale increases yearly…
View article: Recent HIV infection among pregnant women in the 2017 antenatal sentinel cross–sectional survey, South Africa: Assay–based incidence measurement
Recent HIV infection among pregnant women in the 2017 antenatal sentinel cross–sectional survey, South Africa: Assay–based incidence measurement Open
Introduction New HIV infection during pre-conception and pregnancy is a significant contributor of mother–to–child transmission of HIV in South Africa. This study estimated HIV incidence (defined as new infection within the last one year f…
View article: Reported infant feeding practices and contextual influences on breastfeeding: qualitative interviews with women registered to MomConnect in three South African provinces
Reported infant feeding practices and contextual influences on breastfeeding: qualitative interviews with women registered to MomConnect in three South African provinces Open
View article: HIV and tuberculosis in prisons in sub-Saharan Africa
HIV and tuberculosis in prisons in sub-Saharan Africa Open
: Given the dual epidemics of HIV and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa and evidence suggesting a disproportionate burden of these diseases among detainees in the region, we aimed to investigate the epidemiology of HIV and tuberculosis in…
View article: Awareness of HIV-positive status and linkage to treatment prior to pregnancy in the “test and treat” era: A national antenatal sentinel survey, 2017, South Africa
Awareness of HIV-positive status and linkage to treatment prior to pregnancy in the “test and treat” era: A national antenatal sentinel survey, 2017, South Africa Open
Knowledge of HIV-positive status prior to the current pregnancy fell short of the target of 90% among pregnant women living with HIV. This was especially low among adolescent girls and young women, highlighting the gap in youth friendly re…
View article: Viral suppression and factors associated with failure to achieve viral suppression among pregnant women in South Africa
Viral suppression and factors associated with failure to achieve viral suppression among pregnant women in South Africa Open
Objective: To describe viral load levels among pregnant women and factors associated with failure to achieve viral suppression (viral load ≤50 copies/ml) during pregnancy. Design: Between 1 October and 15 November 2017, a cross-sectional s…
View article: Assessment of readiness to transition from antenatal HIV surveillance surveys to PMTCT programme data-based HIV surveillance in South Africa: The 2017 Antenatal Sentinel HIV Survey
Assessment of readiness to transition from antenatal HIV surveillance surveys to PMTCT programme data-based HIV surveillance in South Africa: The 2017 Antenatal Sentinel HIV Survey Open
For the three components assessed, South Africa was close to meeting the WHO standard for transitioning to routine RT data for antenatal HIV surveillance. The wide variations in PPA across provinces should be addressed.
View article: Figures of the dead: A decade of tuberculosis mortality registrations in South Africa
Figures of the dead: A decade of tuberculosis mortality registrations in South Africa Open
South Africa (SA) is committed to reducing tuberculosis (TB) mortality rates in line with the World Health Organization's End TB Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. From mortality reports released by Statistics Sou…
View article: The MomConnect Nurses and Midwives Support Platform (NurseConnect): A Qualitative Process Evaluation
The MomConnect Nurses and Midwives Support Platform (NurseConnect): A Qualitative Process Evaluation Open
Mobile and smartphone penetration was very high, and participants often used their phone to find medical information. The NurseConnect messages were well-liked by all registered participants; however, the mobisite and helpdesk were underut…
View article: The MomConnect Nurses and Midwives Support Platform (NurseConnect): A Qualitative Process Evaluation (Preprint)
The MomConnect Nurses and Midwives Support Platform (NurseConnect): A Qualitative Process Evaluation (Preprint) Open
BACKGROUND Over the past decade, mobile health has steadily increased in low-income and middle-income countries. However, few platforms have been able to sustainably scale up like the MomConnect program in South Africa. NurseConnect was c…
View article: Self-enrolment antenatal health promotion data as an adjunct to maternal clinical information systems in the Western Cape Province of South Africa
Self-enrolment antenatal health promotion data as an adjunct to maternal clinical information systems in the Western Cape Province of South Africa Open
Information systems designed to support health promotion in pregnancy, such as the MomConnect programme, are potential sources of clinical information which can be used to identify pregnancies prospectively and early on. In this paper we d…
View article: Unpacking the performance of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa: <i>evidence on program reach and messaging exposure</i>
Unpacking the performance of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa: <i>evidence on program reach and messaging exposure</i> Open
Despite calls to address broader evidence gaps in linking digital technologies to outcome and impact level health indicators, limited attention has been paid to measuring processes pertaining to the performance of programs. In this paper, …
View article: Mobile health messaging service and helpdesk for South African mothers (MomConnect): history, successes and challenges
Mobile health messaging service and helpdesk for South African mothers (MomConnect): history, successes and challenges Open
MomConnect is a flagship programme of the South African National Department of Health that has reached over 1.5 million pregnant women. Using mobile technology, MomConnect provides pregnant and postpartum women with twice-weekly health inf…
View article: Optimising mHealth helpdesk responsiveness in South Africa: towards automated message triage
Optimising mHealth helpdesk responsiveness in South Africa: towards automated message triage Open
In South Africa, a national-level helpdesk was established in August 2014 as a social accountability mechanism for improving governance, allowing recipients of public sector services to send complaints, compliments and questions directly t…
View article: Taking digital health innovation to scale in South Africa: ten lessons from MomConnect
Taking digital health innovation to scale in South Africa: ten lessons from MomConnect Open
In the last decade, hundreds of initiatives that send health information messages through mobile phone networks have emerged in low-resource countries. Most of these have been small in scale, with only five having scaled to >1 million bene…
View article: Designing for scale: optimising the health information system architecture for mobile maternal health messaging in South Africa (MomConnect)
Designing for scale: optimising the health information system architecture for mobile maternal health messaging in South Africa (MomConnect) Open
MomConnect is a national initiative coordinated by the South African National Department of Health that sends text-based mobile phone messages free of charge to pregnant women who voluntarily register at any public healthcare facility in S…
View article: User assessments and the use of information from MomConnect, a mobile phone text-based information service, by pregnant women and new mothers in South Africa
User assessments and the use of information from MomConnect, a mobile phone text-based information service, by pregnant women and new mothers in South Africa Open
MomConnect was designed to provide crucial health information to mothers during pregnancy and in the early years of child rearing in South Africa. The design drew on the success of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action’s programme in Sou…
View article: Child mortality in South Africa: Fewer deaths, but better data are needed
Child mortality in South Africa: Fewer deaths, but better data are needed Open
South Africa is committed to reducing under-5 mortality rates in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. Policymakers and healthcare service managers require accurate and complete data on the number and causes of child de…
View article: Implementation of strategies to improve programme effectiveness lead to an improvement in maternal and child health outcomes in South Africa
Implementation of strategies to improve programme effectiveness lead to an improvement in maternal and child health outcomes in South Africa Open
Over the last few years, the South African (SA) National Department of Health has led the design, implementation and monitoring of key
\nstrategies to improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes. The strategies have resulted in th…