Centre for Health Systems Research & Development

Permanent URI for this community

http://hdl.handle.net/11660/118

Browse

Browsing Centre for Health Systems Research & Development by Author "Heunis, Christo"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in South Africa: lessons for future pandemics
    (MDPI, 2022) Engelbrecht, Michelle; Heunis, Christo; Kigozi, Gladys
    Vaccine hesitancy, long considered a global health threat, poses a major barrier to effective roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination. With less than half (45%) of adult South Africans currently fully vaccinated, we identified factors affecting non-uptake of vaccination and vaccine hesitancy in order to identify key groups to be targeted when embarking upon COVID-19 vaccine promotion campaigns. A cross-sectional, anonymous online survey was undertaken among the South African adult population in September 2021. Our research identified race, interactive–critical vaccine literacy, trust in the government’s ability to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination programme, flu vaccination status and risk perception for COVID-19 infection as key factors influencing the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination. Respondents who did not trust in the government’s ability to roll out vaccination were almost 13 times more likely to be vaccine-hesitant compared to those respondents who did trust the government. Reliable, easy-to-understand information regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is needed, but it is also important that vaccination promotion and communication strategies include broader trust-building measures to enhance South Africans’ trust in the government’s ability to roll out vaccination effectively and safely. This may also be the case in other countries where distrust in governments’ ability prevails.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Exploring health research priority setting in a South African Province: a nominal group technique approach
    (MDPI, 2024) Heunis, Christo; van Jaarsveldt, Deirdre; Chikobvu, Perpetual; Kigozi-Male, Gladys; Litheko, Moroesi
    In August 2022, the Free State Provincial Health Research Committee used the online nominal group technique (NGT) for Health Research Priority Setting (HRPS) for the Free State Department of Health (FSDoH) and the research community, considering various stakeholders’ perspectives. This paper explores and describes the identified health research priorities. It also assesses their alignment with the National Health Research Strategy. Additionally, it provides an opinion on the feasibility of using the online NGT for collaborative co-creation of provincial-level health research priorities. Most of the identified health research priorities resonate with the national health research priorities identified by the National Health Research Committee. However, research to “𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦” was uniquely perceived to be a priority by the participants in the Free State HRPS exercise. A plausible reason for this might be their heightened awareness of the vital role optimal surveillance systems play in coordinating intersectoral responses to pandemics, particularly considering the serious challenges emerging during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak.