Browsing by Subject "Affordability"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Open Access
    Bridging the health inequality gap: an examination of South Africa’s social innovation in health landscape
    (2021-03-01) de Villiers, Katusha
    Background Despite the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, South Africa remains racially and economically segregated. The country is beset by persistent social inequality, poverty, unemployment, a heavy burden of disease and the inequitable quality of healthcare service provision. The South African health system is currently engaged in the complex project of establishing universal health coverage that ensures the system’s ability to deliver comprehensive care that is accessible, affordable and acceptable to patients and families, while acknowledging the significant pressures to which the system is subject. Within this framework, the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship works to pursue social impact towards social justice in Africa with a systems lens on social innovation within innovative finance, health, education and youth development. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the capacity for social innovation in health with respect for South Africa, and to highlight some current innovations that respond to issues of health equity such as accessibility, affordability, and acceptability. Methods Different data types were collected to gain a rich understanding of the current context of social innovation in health within South Africa, supported by mini-case studies and examples from across the African continent, including: primary interviews, literature reviews, and organisational documentation reviews. Key stakeholders were identified, to provide the authors with an understanding of the context in which the innovations have been developed and implemented as well as the enablers and constraints. Stakeholders includes senior level managers, frontline health workers, Ministry of Health officials, and beneficiaries. A descriptive analysis strategy was adopted. Results South Africa’s health care system may be viewed, to a large extent, as a reflection of the issues facing other Southern African countries with a similar disease burden, lack of systemic infrastructure and cohesiveness, and societal inequalities. The evolving health landscape in South Africa and the reforms being undertaken to prepare for a National Healthcare Insurance presents the opportunity to understand effective models of care provision as developed in other African contexts, and to translate these models as appropriate to the South African environment. Conclusions After examining the cases of heath innovation, it is clear that no one actor, no matter how innovative, can change the system alone. The interaction and collaboration between the government and non-state actors is critical for an integrated and effective delivery system for both health and social care.
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    Open Access
    Evaluating the impact of innovative cyber technologies on the delivery process of South African sustainable affordable housing
    (2025) Mahachi, Jeffrey; Michell, Kathleen; Moghayedi, Alireza
    The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of innovative technologies on the delivery and affordability of low-income housing in South Africa. Given the rising demand for affordable housing due to a growing population and urbanisation, the study aimed to investigate the role of new technologies in enhancing housing delivery. The study explored the use of various innovative technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Building Information Modelling (BIM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), 3D Printing, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Smart Sensors, Modular and Prefabrication, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) as potential solutions. The research adopted a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. The target population included home developers, experts, policymakers, and academics involved in affordable housing development. Qualitative data were gathered through expert interviews until saturation was achieved, while quantitative data was obtained from 100 survey questions filled out by experts involved with affordable housing in South Africa. The data analysis method consisted of thematic analysis and descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study indicated that these innovative technologies have the potential to not only accelerate the delivery of affordable housing but also make it more cost-efficient. The analysis showed that 3D printing, modular and prefabrication were three technologies that could significantly increase housing delivery, while BIM, GIS, VR, OOP, and PPM could efficiently aid in the planning of affordable housing, reducing design conflicts, improving project schedules, and cutting development costs. Smart Sensors, AR, and UAVs could indirectly enhance housing delivery by monitoring construction, ensuring the site is built on schedule and correctly, and monitoring construction worker productivity. However, the study also identified high costs and limited social acceptance as major challenges. To address these issues, the study emphasised the need for the government to promote the adoption and implementation of these technologies through financial incentives and subsidies for companies that adopt them, as well as investment in research and development. The study also stressed the importance of promoting the use of these technologies in high-end housing developments in addition to affordable housing projects. In conclusion, the results of this study highlight the significance of considering innovative technologies in the delivery of affordable housing in South Africa. The findings suggest that the government has a critical role to play in promoting the adoption and implementation of these technologies through financial incentives and investment in research and development, helping to overcome current challenges and making affordable housing a reality for all.
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    Open Access
    Impact of planning and building regulations on affordable housing development by the private sector in South Africa
    (2019) Ekpo, Christiana; Mooya, Manya
    This study emerged from existing literary evidence that planning and building regulations affect the supply of housing and research in this area usually takes a very descriptive route that lacks an explicit theoretical framework that can guide stakeholders for better research outcomes. The rationale is based on the context that despite the many initiatives introduced by successive post-apartheid governments to improve the housing situation in South Africa, not much has been achieved to improve the enormous housing backlogs. Affordable housing, being one of the strategic mechanisms used by the government for housing delivery is laden with problems. Many factors have been attributed to the challenges among which are land use policies and building regulations, administrative bottlenecks, budgetary constraints, and so on. To effectively manage these challenges, a more proactive private sector participation has been advocated. However, this requires that proper regulatory frameworks are put in place to ensure that developers deliver housing that meets necessary safety and quality standards and still have some return on investment. Unfortunately, legislative structures which should ideally be supportive, instead, hinder development and create barriers for private developers The study thus investigates three related questions. Firstly, what are the main planning and building regulations that impact on affordable housing by the private sector? Secondly, how do the planning and building regulations affect the total cost of affordable housing development by the private sector? Thirdly, what scope exists for the change and would, relaxing these regulations, enhance the supply of affordable housing developments by the private sector in South Africa? Corresponding to these questions is the first hypothesis which states that planning and building regulations impose a significant cost on the developers and thus deter the supply by the private sector. And secondly, relaxing some of the planning and building regulations could improve affordable housing development by the private sector. The study employed a qualitative approach to gather empirical data using household surveys and semi-structured interviews from developers and consultants on five case studies together with key informants’ interviews from government officials. With the main theoretical tools of Institution Analysis and Development, this study developed a conceptual framework that determines the main planning and building regulations that impact on affordable housing supply by the private sector. And by employing insights from New Institutional Economics tools, these regulations are treated as institutions through which development rights are obtained. The study reveals; that even though planning and building regulations are affiliated with better quality housing products, they significantly affect cost, affordability and location outcomes. That no national policy tool exists to guide affordable housing implementation processes; the current city’s policy instruments are contradictory to the propagated concepts meant to enhance housing supply. The study discovers that the government has huge land parcels for different intentions, but makes it available only to a developer whose objectives align with theirs and developers lack adequate funding and incentives to motivate them. Finally, the study reveals that even when case studies are located outside the urban core of Cape Town, dwellers are happy and satisfied with the location and careless about the system’s inefficiencies and there is no direct relation between planning and building regulations and location other than the fact that regulations contribute to the bad location of developments.
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    Open Access
    Let's not wait until a crisis for change to occur: a critical analysis of patent law in South Africa and its role in (not) fulfilling the constitutional right to health
    (2025) Gotora, Ngonidzaishe; Zungu, Bongiwe; Tong, Lee-Ann
    The right to health is enshrined in international treaties and under section 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. It has been established that access to affordable medicines is a fundamental element to its realisation. Research has identified patent law as a potential barrier to access. Research on how patent law creates a barrier to accessing affordable medicines has been focused on identification of the flaws within South Africa's patent regime. However, the impact of the high prices on patented medicines and what this means for the binding obligations that the right to health entails is limited. The main objective of this thesis is to determine if this impact constitutes an infringement to the constitutional right to health. The secondary objective is to analyse whether solutions suggested to improve access such as encouraging use of the TRIPS flexibilities and the implementation of the Intellectual Property Policy of the Republic of South Africa Phase I has yielded the desired result. The analysis reveals that high prices of patented medicines negatively impact the population that relies on public health systems within the country. This analysis suggests that the current patent regime has resulted in the prevalence of these high prices and as such, it stands as a barrier to the realisation of the right to health. The findings show that the suggestions to improve access are yet to be utilised. To date South Africa has not utilised compulsory licences or the ‘bolar' exception as tools to improve access. Furthermore, the implementation of the IP Policy although gradual, is lacking the urgency required for the situation at hand. This thesis draws suggestions from India and Canada that may be applied to South Africa. Additionally, the thesis extracts lessons from scholars who suggest pharmaceutical companies must embody the notions of communitarian ethic as a means of replacing a profit-centred approach with a community approach when setting prices. The thesis suggests such a communitarian ethic be applied as a solution that challenges the notion of ownership and distribution in IP law.