The Ideal Hospital Realisation and Maintenance Framework (IHRM-F) is a critical strategy and intervention to facilitate improved health service delivery and strengthen health system effectiveness by capacitating hospitals to identify and address challenges. The IHRM-F will serve as a benchmark mechanism to monitor Health System Strengthening activities, to improve efficiency gains in service provision and to improve patient experiences.

The Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance (ICRM) programme was initiated by the National Department of Health in July 2013 in order to systematically improve primary health care  (PHC) facilities and the quality of care they provide. The Ideal Community Health Centre (CHC) framework/dashboard sets out the standards for PHC facilities to provide good-quality health services. An Ideal CHC is defined as a CHC with good infrastructure, adequate staff, adequate medicines and supplies, good administrative processes, and sufficient adequate bulk supplies.

This report presents findings from South Africa. The study was implemented from February 2020 – February 2021, and ethics approvals were granted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Ethics Review Committee and by the South African Human Sciences Research Council (SAHSRC). The study is part of a multi-country study commissioned by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The study sought to hear directly from women, and those who influence them – health professionals, partners, family members and friends – about their exposure to and experience of formula product marketing.

Hospital Level (Tertiary and Quaternary) Medicine Reviews and Costing Documents 

The evidence-based medicine recommendations included in the Tertiary and Quaternary Essential Medicines List (EML) are reviewed through the transparent critical appraisal of global evidence, using a systematic evidence-to-decision framework. The Tertiary and Quaternary Hospital Level EML, which constitutes a list of essential medicines for approved indication, is ratified and distributed quarterly following NEMLC approval. It guides the selection, procurement and use of medicines at Tertiary and Quaternary level health establishments in the public sector in South Africa.