How Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) gives vulnerable South Africans access to healthcare.

The 21st of March is Human Rights Day in South Africa, a significant day for South Africans and South Africa’s history. Human Rights Day pays homage to the events that took place in Sharpeville, where lives were lost at the hands of police officers. A group of people gathered at a local police station on this day in 1960, to protest pass laws, a form of internal passport system designed to segregate the population, manage urbanisation, and allocate migrant labour. It was on this day, in 1960, that 69 lives were lost in the Sharpeville Massacre when police opened fire without being given official orders to do so.

The Sharpeville Massacre events became instrumental in the fight for freedom in South Africa. The protests against the Pass Laws led the movement for various South Africans to claim and fight for their human rights which they are continuing to do today.

The initiatives that we embark on are aimed at addressing social ills and ensuring that vulnerable citizen’s healthcare, wellbeing and living conditions are improved. The Impact Catalyst aims to drive a collective approach to value creation and social impact to create long-lasting, vibrant economies that are no longer dependent on mining and industry.

The Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) initiative aims to bring health care into the home and gives vulnerable South Africans access to healthcare, which is a basic human right. The Community Oriented Primary Care programme was initially developed by the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Pretoria (UP), COPC has been successfully implemented in several municipalities countrywide. This initiative, founded Anglo American, entails close collaboration with partners across sectors to bring about sustainable socio-economic change on a regional scale. Project partners include Anglo American, CSIR, University of Pretoria and the Impact Catalyst.

The Impact Catalyst partners support the Department of Health with resources including training, IT and internet connectivity which results in relationships, connecting partners and better health literacy for individual community members. Currently, 133 health clinics are involved, close to 1 700 Community Health Workers will have received training, and a total of 2.7 million people will benefit from the programme.

In closing, it is integral that socio-economic development activities address social ills at their core, so that they ensure that the Human Rights of all South Africans are considered.

Check out our website for updates on all our projects: www.impactcatalyst.co.za

For any queries contact us: [email protected]