Bronwyn Harris
Biographic Data
| ID | 3856172 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bronwyn Harris |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bronwyn |
| FAMILY NAME | Harris |
| SIGNATURE | HARRIS B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4695-008X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Remote Data Collection in Qualitative Health Research
Remote methods of data collection- where participant/s and researcher/s are not co-located and communication technologies are used- have become increasingly commonplace. While in-person methods have long been considered the ‘gold-standard’ of qualitative enquiry, the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed the widespread adoption of remote methods, and their use has persisted. Remote methods offer unique opportunities; unprecedented access to participants an…
Comparing In-Person and Remote Qualitative Data Collection Methods for Data Quality and Inclusion
Background: In-person data collection has long been considered the ‘gold standard’ for qualitative data collection. Societal changes and the rapid increase in the use of remote methods during the Covid-19 pandemic intensified debate about the limitations and opportunities of remote data collection, while reigniting questions about data quality and inclusion. Objective: We sought to map available evidence exploring the characteristics and quality …
Initiating systemic capacity development for leadership from the bottom-up
The need for leadership within district health systems is critical for the effective delivery of services and for inter-sectoral collaboration for health. Leadership capacity development (LCD) has not, however, been prioritized within health systems, and the systemic capacity (i.e. roles, structures and processes) that is needed to develop managers who can lead is not always in place. This paper aims to contribute to understanding how to build su…
Health and wellbeing experiences of women informal workers during the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the health and wellbeing of woman informal workers. In the groundwork for future development and pandemic planning, equity-centred approach informed by intersectionality must be applied
Prevalence and determinants of oral health conditions and treatment needs among slum and non-slum urban residents
Oral diseases constitute a neglected epidemic in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). An understanding of its distribution and severity in different settings can aid the planning of preventive and therapeutic services. This study assessed the oral health conditions, risk factors, and treatment needs among adult residents in the slum and compared findings with non-slum urban residents in Ibadan, Nigeria. The Multistage sampling was used to sel…
Analysis of OpenStreetMap Data Quality at Different Stages of a Participatory Mapping Process
This paper examines OpenStreetMap data quality at different stages of a participatory mapping process in seven slums in Africa and Asia. Data were drawn from an OpenStreetMap-based participatory mapping process developed as part of a research project focusing on understanding inequalities in healthcare access of slum residents in the Global South. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis were employed to examine the following research ques…
Impact of the societal response to Covid-19 on access to healthcare for non-Covid-19 health issues in slum communities of Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan
INTRODUCTION: With COVID-19, there is urgency for policymakers to understand and respond to the health needs of slum communities. Lockdowns for pandemic control have health, social and economic consequences. We consider access to healthcare before and during COVID-19 with those working and living in slum communities. METHODS: In seven slums in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan, we explored stakeholder perspectives and experiences of healthc…
A qualitative study of the dissemination and diffusion of innovations
Those driving reform processes from 'the top' must remember to develop well planned dissemination strategies that give lower-level managers relevant information and, as part of those strategies, provide ongoing opportunities for bottom up input into key decisions and processes. Managers in districts must be recognised as leaders of change, not only as implementers who are at the receiving end of dissemination strategies from those at the top. The…
Innovation diffusion
The study illustrates the application and feasibility of ego SNA in identifying champions and opinion leaders among women of reproductive age group. It also shows the influence of social networks on the diffusion of community-based injectable contraceptives, and how homophilic and dense networks may have positive health externality. The interrelatedness of network members' decision to adopt a health innovation was also demonstrated by the finding…
Social health insurance contributes to universal coverage in South Africa, but generates inequities
By introducing the scheme, the government chose to prioritise access to private sector care for government employees, over improving the availability and quality of public sector services available to all. Government has recently regained its focus on achieving UHC through the public system, but is unlikely to discontinue GEMS, which is now firmly established. The inequities generated by the scheme have thus been institutionalised within the coun…
Something Happened
In 2014, something happened. Our colleague, AIDS activist and advocate of restorative justice, Harry Nyathela, was murdered. In the struggle to make sense of his senseless-seeming death, we reflect on the method of telling and listening to stories of violence in a ‘field’ that cannot be separated from everyday living (or dying). For researchers, there is little guidance on how to engage when something violent or traumatic happens. Suffering can n…
Ways of Doing
In this article, we consider the conduct of post-apartheid health care in a policy context directed toward entrenching democracy, ensuring treatment-adherent patients, and creating a healthy populace actively responsible for their own health. We ask how tuberculosis treatment, antiretroviral therapy, and maternal services are delivered within South Africa's health system, an institutional site of colonial and apartheid injustice, and democratic r…
Exploring the perceptions and experiences of community health workers using role identity theory
BACKGROUND: Community health workers (CHWs) are an integral resource in many health systems, particularly in resource-poor settings. Their identities--'who' they are--play an important role in their hiring, training, and retention. We explore the perceptions, experiences, and identities of CHWs as they adopt a CHW role in rural South Africa, using 'role identity theory'. DESIGN: From April to December 2010, we conducted 18 semi-structured intervi…
Acceptable Care? Illness Constructions, Healthworlds, and Accessible Chronic Treatment in South Africa
Achieving equitable access to health care is an important policy goal, with access influenced by affordability, availability, and acceptability of specific services. We explore patient narratives from a 5-year program of research on health care access to examine relationships between social constructions of illness and the acceptability of health services in the context of tuberculosis treatment and antiretroviral therapy in South Africa. Accepta…
Adverse or acceptable
BACKGROUND: As in many fragile and post-conflict countries, South Africa's social contract has formally changed from authoritarianism to democracy, yet access to services, including health care, remains inequitable and contested. We examine access barriers to quality health services and draw on social contract theory to explore ways in which a post-apartheid health care contract is narrated, practiced and negotiated by patients and providers. We …
Moving towards universal coverage in South Africa? Lessons from a voluntary government insurance scheme
BACKGROUND: In 2005, the South African government introduced a voluntary, subsidised health insurance scheme for civil servants. In light of the global emphasis on universal coverage, empirical evidence is needed to understand the relationship between new health financing strategies and health care access thereby improving global understanding of these issues. OBJECTIVES: This study analysed coverage of the South African government health insuran…
Bringing Justice to Unacceptable Health Care Services? Street-Level Reflections from Urban South Africa
Transforming repressive institutions into respected instruments of justice is necessary for the social reconstruction of fragile and postconflict states. Yet, little attention has been given to the role of health systems in facilitating such change. We situate South Africa’s right to access health care as part of a broader sociopolitical endeavour to ‘bring justice’ in the aftermath of apartheid and argue that street-level bureaucrats tasked with…
Equity in financing and use of health care in Ghana, South Africa, and Tanzania
Social solidarity and willingness to tolerate risk- and income-related cross-subsidies within health insurance
The importance of ill-health in perpetuating poverty is well recognized. In order to prevent the damaging downward spiral of poverty and illness, there is a need for a greater level of social protection, with greater cross-subsidization between the poor and wealthy, and the healthy and those with ill-health. The aim of this paper is to examine individual preferences for willingness to pre-pay for health care and willingness to cross-subsidize the…
Factors influencing the burden of health care financing and the distribution of health care benefits in Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa
In Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa, health care financing is progressive overall. However, out-of-pocket payments and health insurance for the informal sector are regressive. The distribution of health care benefits is generally pro-rich. This paper explores the factors influencing these distributions in the three countries. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with insurance scheme members, the…
Inequities in access to health care in South Africa
Discourses of Order and Their Disruption
This paper asserts that selected texts of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission possess a powerful political potential in their ability to challenge and refute historical relations of racialised power in South Africa. The prospective political efficacy of these texts is seen as residing in their critical ability to subvert and challenge the predominant understandings, discourses and representations of Apartheid, or the ‘old’, Sout…
Acceptable Care? Illness Constructions, Healthworlds, and Accessible Chronic Treatment in South Africa
Achieving equitable access to health care is an important policy goal, with access influenced by affordability, availability, and acceptability of specific services. We explore patient narratives from a 5-year program of research on health care access to examine relationships between social constructions of illness and the acceptability of health services in the context of tuberculosis treatment and antiretroviral therapy in South Africa. Accepta…
Factors influencing the burden of health care financing and the distribution of health care benefits in Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa
In Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa, health care financing is progressive overall. However, out-of-pocket payments and health insurance for the informal sector are regressive. The distribution of health care benefits is generally pro-rich. This paper explores the factors influencing these distributions in the three countries. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with insurance scheme members, the…
Ways of Doing
In this article, we consider the conduct of post-apartheid health care in a policy context directed toward entrenching democracy, ensuring treatment-adherent patients, and creating a healthy populace actively responsible for their own health. We ask how tuberculosis treatment, antiretroviral therapy, and maternal services are delivered within South Africa's health system, an institutional site of colonial and apartheid injustice, and democratic r…
Bringing Justice to Unacceptable Health Care Services? Street-Level Reflections from Urban South Africa
Transforming repressive institutions into respected instruments of justice is necessary for the social reconstruction of fragile and postconflict states. Yet, little attention has been given to the role of health systems in facilitating such change. We situate South Africa’s right to access health care as part of a broader sociopolitical endeavour to ‘bring justice’ in the aftermath of apartheid and argue that street-level bureaucrats tasked with…
Social solidarity and willingness to tolerate risk- and income-related cross-subsidies within health insurance
The importance of ill-health in perpetuating poverty is well recognized. In order to prevent the damaging downward spiral of poverty and illness, there is a need for a greater level of social protection, with greater cross-subsidization between the poor and wealthy, and the healthy and those with ill-health. The aim of this paper is to examine individual preferences for willingness to pre-pay for health care and willingness to cross-subsidize the…
Discourses of Order and Their Disruption
This paper asserts that selected texts of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission possess a powerful political potential in their ability to challenge and refute historical relations of racialised power in South Africa. The prospective political efficacy of these texts is seen as residing in their critical ability to subvert and challenge the predominant understandings, discourses and representations of Apartheid, or the ‘old’, Sout…
Discourses of Order and Their Disruption
This paper asserts that selected texts of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission possess a powerful political potential in their ability to challenge and refute historical relations of racialised power in South Africa. The prospective political efficacy of these texts is seen as residing in their critical ability to subvert and challenge the predominant understandings, discourses and representations of Apartheid, or the ‘old’, Sout…
Inequities in access to health care in South Africa
Equity in financing and use of health care in Ghana, South Africa, and Tanzania
Social solidarity and willingness to tolerate risk- and income-related cross-subsidies within health insurance
The importance of ill-health in perpetuating poverty is well recognized. In order to prevent the damaging downward spiral of poverty and illness, there is a need for a greater level of social protection, with greater cross-subsidization between the poor and wealthy, and the healthy and those with ill-health. The aim of this paper is to examine individual preferences for willingness to pre-pay for health care and willingness to cross-subsidize the…
Factors influencing the burden of health care financing and the distribution of health care benefits in Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa
In Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa, health care financing is progressive overall. However, out-of-pocket payments and health insurance for the informal sector are regressive. The distribution of health care benefits is generally pro-rich. This paper explores the factors influencing these distributions in the three countries. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with insurance scheme members, the…
Moving towards universal coverage in South Africa? Lessons from a voluntary government insurance scheme
BACKGROUND: In 2005, the South African government introduced a voluntary, subsidised health insurance scheme for civil servants. In light of the global emphasis on universal coverage, empirical evidence is needed to understand the relationship between new health financing strategies and health care access thereby improving global understanding of these issues. OBJECTIVES: This study analysed coverage of the South African government health insuran…
Bringing Justice to Unacceptable Health Care Services? Street-Level Reflections from Urban South Africa
Transforming repressive institutions into respected instruments of justice is necessary for the social reconstruction of fragile and postconflict states. Yet, little attention has been given to the role of health systems in facilitating such change. We situate South Africa’s right to access health care as part of a broader sociopolitical endeavour to ‘bring justice’ in the aftermath of apartheid and argue that street-level bureaucrats tasked with…
Adverse or acceptable
BACKGROUND: As in many fragile and post-conflict countries, South Africa's social contract has formally changed from authoritarianism to democracy, yet access to services, including health care, remains inequitable and contested. We examine access barriers to quality health services and draw on social contract theory to explore ways in which a post-apartheid health care contract is narrated, practiced and negotiated by patients and providers. We …
Exploring the perceptions and experiences of community health workers using role identity theory
BACKGROUND: Community health workers (CHWs) are an integral resource in many health systems, particularly in resource-poor settings. Their identities--'who' they are--play an important role in their hiring, training, and retention. We explore the perceptions, experiences, and identities of CHWs as they adopt a CHW role in rural South Africa, using 'role identity theory'. DESIGN: From April to December 2010, we conducted 18 semi-structured intervi…
Acceptable Care? Illness Constructions, Healthworlds, and Accessible Chronic Treatment in South Africa
Achieving equitable access to health care is an important policy goal, with access influenced by affordability, availability, and acceptability of specific services. We explore patient narratives from a 5-year program of research on health care access to examine relationships between social constructions of illness and the acceptability of health services in the context of tuberculosis treatment and antiretroviral therapy in South Africa. Accepta…
Ways of Doing
In this article, we consider the conduct of post-apartheid health care in a policy context directed toward entrenching democracy, ensuring treatment-adherent patients, and creating a healthy populace actively responsible for their own health. We ask how tuberculosis treatment, antiretroviral therapy, and maternal services are delivered within South Africa's health system, an institutional site of colonial and apartheid injustice, and democratic r…
Social health insurance contributes to universal coverage in South Africa, but generates inequities
By introducing the scheme, the government chose to prioritise access to private sector care for government employees, over improving the availability and quality of public sector services available to all. Government has recently regained its focus on achieving UHC through the public system, but is unlikely to discontinue GEMS, which is now firmly established. The inequities generated by the scheme have thus been institutionalised within the coun…
Something Happened
In 2014, something happened. Our colleague, AIDS activist and advocate of restorative justice, Harry Nyathela, was murdered. In the struggle to make sense of his senseless-seeming death, we reflect on the method of telling and listening to stories of violence in a ‘field’ that cannot be separated from everyday living (or dying). For researchers, there is little guidance on how to engage when something violent or traumatic happens. Suffering can n…
A qualitative study of the dissemination and diffusion of innovations
Those driving reform processes from 'the top' must remember to develop well planned dissemination strategies that give lower-level managers relevant information and, as part of those strategies, provide ongoing opportunities for bottom up input into key decisions and processes. Managers in districts must be recognised as leaders of change, not only as implementers who are at the receiving end of dissemination strategies from those at the top. The…
Innovation diffusion
The study illustrates the application and feasibility of ego SNA in identifying champions and opinion leaders among women of reproductive age group. It also shows the influence of social networks on the diffusion of community-based injectable contraceptives, and how homophilic and dense networks may have positive health externality. The interrelatedness of network members' decision to adopt a health innovation was also demonstrated by the finding…
Impact of the societal response to Covid-19 on access to healthcare for non-Covid-19 health issues in slum communities of Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan
INTRODUCTION: With COVID-19, there is urgency for policymakers to understand and respond to the health needs of slum communities. Lockdowns for pandemic control have health, social and economic consequences. We consider access to healthcare before and during COVID-19 with those working and living in slum communities. METHODS: In seven slums in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan, we explored stakeholder perspectives and experiences of healthc…
Analysis of OpenStreetMap Data Quality at Different Stages of a Participatory Mapping Process
This paper examines OpenStreetMap data quality at different stages of a participatory mapping process in seven slums in Africa and Asia. Data were drawn from an OpenStreetMap-based participatory mapping process developed as part of a research project focusing on understanding inequalities in healthcare access of slum residents in the Global South. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis were employed to examine the following research ques…
Prevalence and determinants of oral health conditions and treatment needs among slum and non-slum urban residents
Oral diseases constitute a neglected epidemic in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). An understanding of its distribution and severity in different settings can aid the planning of preventive and therapeutic services. This study assessed the oral health conditions, risk factors, and treatment needs among adult residents in the slum and compared findings with non-slum urban residents in Ibadan, Nigeria. The Multistage sampling was used to sel…
Comparing In-Person and Remote Qualitative Data Collection Methods for Data Quality and Inclusion
Background: In-person data collection has long been considered the ‘gold standard’ for qualitative data collection. Societal changes and the rapid increase in the use of remote methods during the Covid-19 pandemic intensified debate about the limitations and opportunities of remote data collection, while reigniting questions about data quality and inclusion. Objective: We sought to map available evidence exploring the characteristics and quality …
Initiating systemic capacity development for leadership from the bottom-up
The need for leadership within district health systems is critical for the effective delivery of services and for inter-sectoral collaboration for health. Leadership capacity development (LCD) has not, however, been prioritized within health systems, and the systemic capacity (i.e. roles, structures and processes) that is needed to develop managers who can lead is not always in place. This paper aims to contribute to understanding how to build su…
Health and wellbeing experiences of women informal workers during the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the health and wellbeing of woman informal workers. In the groundwork for future development and pandemic planning, equity-centred approach informed by intersectionality must be applied
Remote Data Collection in Qualitative Health Research
Remote methods of data collection- where participant/s and researcher/s are not co-located and communication technologies are used- have become increasingly commonplace. While in-person methods have long been considered the ‘gold-standard’ of qualitative enquiry, the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed the widespread adoption of remote methods, and their use has persisted. Remote methods offer unique opportunities; unprecedented access to participants an…
Political science (12 works) · Economic growth (11 works) · Health care (11 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Business (10 works) · Economics (8 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (8 works) · Environmental health (7 works) · Healthcare Systems and Reforms (7 works) · Population (7 works)