Health Systems Research Unit

Director: Prof Charles Hongoro
E-mail: charles.hongoro@mrc.ac.za

Mandate of the Unit
The main purpose of the unit is to conduct health systems research to develop and improve the organisation, efficiency, effectiveness and impact of health systems on population health.

What we do
The Health Systems Research Unit (HSRU) is at the forefront of conducting both qualitative and quantitative health systems research in South Africa and across the continent. The unit focuses on producing publications in peer and non-peer reviewed journals, policy advising activities at national and international level, and capacity building activities largely post-graduate training (MSc and PhDs).

Most of the Unit’s work is based on priority health systems issues: service delivery (e.g. Maternal, New born and Child Health, HIV and AIDS (PMTCT evaluation, HIV prevention trials (Options & PREPARE amongst adolescents, development of surveillance systems for monitoring HIV in high risk populations (RDS), and TB (integration of services); human resources for health (e.g. community lay workers and HR planning models), health financing (e.g. district expenditure reviews and budgeting, national health insurance preparatory and implementation work); systematic reviews on priority health issues; development of systems for data collection, collation and use at district or PHC level and many others.

With regards to service delivery, the Unit has deliberately focused on the PHC level particularly looking at service delivery models and programme effectiveness using national surveys, community randomized control trials and innovative qualitative research methods.