WOMENS HEALTH-STATUS AND USE OF HEALTH-SERVICES IN A RAPIDLY GROWING PERIURBAN AREA OF SOUTH-AFRICA

Women's health in South Africa and particularly women living iii peri- urban areas is being influenced by three major factors. These include the political transition that is occurring in the country, urbanizatio n and the international interest in women's health. Changes in the del ivery of health care to the population. and in particular to women are being planned. It is therefore important that data are available for the purpose of planning and evaluation of health services. This paper describes a household survey in which 661 women were interviewed. Soci o-demographic patterns of women living in a rapidly urbanizing area we re determined and related to health status, use of health services and knowledge of the services. Poverty appeared to be an overriding facto r affecting the health of the population. One third of the women were living in unserviced shacks. There was a high rate of unemployment and those who were employed worked in low status jobs and earned very lit tle. Rates of reported acute and chronic illness were lower than descr ibed elsewhere in similar household interview surveys. A third of the acute illnesses were due to respiratory disease. Reported rates of dia betes and hypertension were low indicating undiagnosed disease in the area. Being a member of an alliance household - a mixture of family, f riends and lodgers - was the main predictor of acute illness. For chro nic disease, age and increasing educational status were the main predi ctors. Knowledge of services apart from those for cervical cancer scre ening was good. The latter improved with increasing education, urbaniz ation and being a member of an alliance household. As many of the wome n lived in unserviced areas and had little or no income the provision of infrastructural services and development programs are essential if their health is to be improved. The existing health services need to b e developed to provide a comprehensive primary care service with speci al attention being paid to the health of women. The service should be close to their homes and be affordable. The information gathered in th is survey will be used to plan services for women in the area and will act as baseline data for evaluation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.