Less than a half of metro adults are happy with the health service in their area: Indians/Asians and those in the Eastern Cape and Cape Town are the least happy
Johannesburg, 17 July 2012: Only 45% of people are happy with the state of the public health service in their area. This drops to 22% for Indians and Asians, 37% for those in the Eastern Cape and 38% for those in Cape Town. These figures were released today by TNS South Africa, South Africa's leading marketing and social insights company. They arise from a study undertaken amongst 2 000 adults in South Africa's eight major metropolitan areas between in March/April 2012. The study has a margin of error of less than 2½% for the overall result.
Forty-eight percent disagree that they are happy with the public health service in their area and 8% gave a don't know response.
Whilst there are no differences by sex or age or wealth, there are some differences by race and area, as noted above:
|
|
Blacks |
Whites |
Coloureds |
Indians/Asians |
|
I am happy with the state of the public health service in my area |
49 |
39 |
40 |
22 |
***
|
|
|
|
I am happy with the state of the public health service in my area |
|
Gauteng |
|
|
46 |
|
|
Johannesburg and environs |
|
46 |
|
|
|
Johannesburg excl Soweto |
40 |
|
|
|
East Rand |
53 |
|
|
|
West Rand |
47 |
|
|
|
Soweto |
46 |
|
|
|
Vaal Triangle/South Rand |
43 |
|
|
|
Pretoria |
47 |
|
Cape Town |
|
|
38 |
|
Durban |
|
|
49 |
|
Eastern Cape |
|
|
37 |
|
|
Port Elizabeth |
|
33 |
|
|
East London |
|
45 |
|
Bloemfontein |
|
|
57 |
People in the Eastern Cape (especially Port Elizabeth) and Cape Town are the least happy overall whilst those in Bloemfontein and the East Rand are the most satisfied. However, overall, differences are not very large.
Our take out
It is clear that the state of the public health system is very poorly perceived by many metro dwellers, irrespective of area, wealth or other circumstances. The adequate provision of health services is, for many, an emotive issue and is clearly seen as a priority by many. People in Port Elizabeth and Indians/Asians have particularly poor perceptions.
Technical note:
The study was conducted amongst 2 000 adults (1290 blacks, 355whites, 245 coloureds and 110 Indians/Asians) in the eight major metropolitan areas: it has a margin of error of under 2.5% for the results found for the total sample. The study uses probability sampling techniques and aisfully representative of the major metropolitan areas. The study was conducted by TNS South Africa as part of their ongoing research into current social and political issues and was funded by TNS.
Statement issued by Neil Higgs, TNS South Africa, July 20 2012
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