An analysis of South Africa's health policy performance to the COVID-19 pandemic during the period March 2020 and June 2022
type: CreativeWork
description: The study aims to assume a dominant position on whether the health policy deployed benefited the public, was accessible on an equitable scale to all members of different social classes, the measure of equitability would be: 1) the effective use of resources allocated to reduce impact of COVID-19, and 2) quantitative data that shows improved access to healthcare during the mentioned period, and if the power of decision-making given to the government was exercised responsibly. Pandemic history often reveals stark weaknesses in a government's health system. Its impact results in widening the inequality gap among social class groups or exacerbating the conditions of already weak infrastructure. This was the case with the onset and spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. In March 2020, South Africa reported its first case of COVID-19, it was an imported case, arriving through an international visit. The patient was a traveler from Italy. Approximately 18 days later, the virus spread through close contact and community transmission. The South African Government instituted a swift reactive response to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as this was projected to have dire effects if not dealt with urgency. Central to this was the South African Government's health policy response identifying priority areas for its efficacy. These were identified as non-pharmaceutical interventions as a vaccine, or any medical intervention was unavailable. A country-wide risk-adjusted strategy was deployed that tightened or loosened regulations depending on the level of threat the country was facing, indicated by a rise or drop in the cumulative number of infections over some time. This study examines publicly available data that focuses on the COVID-19 health policy response in South Africa, to determine its impact on South African citizens. The research aims to establish this by, relating public management theories such as Social Contract Theory, Quality of Government Theory, and the Theory of Publ…
abstract: The study aims to assume a dominant position on whether the health policy deployed benefited the public, was accessible on an equitable scale to all members of different social classes, the measure of equitability would be: 1) the effective use of resources allocated to reduce impact of COVID-19, and 2) quantitative data that shows improved access to healthcare during the mentioned period, and if the power of decision-making given to the government was exercised responsibly. Pandemic history often reveals stark weaknesses in a government's health system. Its impact results in widening the inequality gap among social class groups or exacerbating the conditions of already weak infrastructure. This was the case with the onset and spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. In March 2020, South Africa reported its first case of COVID-19, it was an imported case, arriving through an international visit. The patient was a traveler from Italy. Approximately 18 days later, the virus spread through close contact and community transmission. The South African Government instituted a swift reactive response to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as this was projected to have dire effects if not dealt with urgency. Central to this was the South African Government's health policy response identifying priority areas for its efficacy. These were identified as non-pharmaceutical interventions as a vaccine, or any medical intervention was unavailable. A country-wide risk-adjusted strategy was deployed that tightened or loosened regulations depending on the level of threat the country was facing, indicated by a rise or drop in the cumulative number of infections over some time. This study examines publicly available data that focuses on the COVID-19 health policy response in South Africa, to determine its impact on South African citizens. The research aims to establish this by, relating public management theories such as Social Contract Theory, Quality of Government Theory, and the Theory of Publ…
language: en
keywords: UCTD, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Health, Policy, Economics, Public Management, Analysis
date published: 2025-08-31
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:52:42Z
provider: University of Pretoria
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Pretoria

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107304

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.25403/UPresearchdata.30862169