article · Journal of Public Health in Africa
Health promotion practitioners play an important part in managing infectious disease outbreaks in rural settings such as the OR Tambo District in South Africa, yet their specific responsibilities have often remained unclear. An investigation of tertiary-qualified practitioners identified three main functional roles during disease outbreaks. Firstly, practitioners handle implementation through planning, organising, and delivering collaborative health education alongside government departments and multidisciplinary teams. Secondly, they participate in research, monitoring, and evaluation, including community surveillance and epidemiological assessments. Thirdly, practitioners provide advocacy to support and secure needed health services for affected populations. While these duties align closely with national public health strategies, the capacity of practitioners could be further optimised by formally integrating them into ongoing emergency planning and structured training programmes.
Infectious disease outbreaks pose serious threats to public health, especially across rural areas. Defining the exact functions of health promotion personnel enables health authorities to deploy frontline teams efficiently, eliminate gaps in public education, and improve interdepartmental coordination. Integrating these workers into formal disaster planning strengthens community-level resilience and ensures faster, better-organised responses to future epidemics.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway for commercialisation, focusing instead on workforce roles and administrative coordination within public health systems. The findings primarily offer operational guidance for government health departments and educational institutions designing training programmes, remaining at the level of public sector policy and practice rather than a commercial product or service.
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Background: In South Africa, infectious disease outbreaks are common and pose severe public health threats. To mitigate outbreaks, health promotion plays a significant role. However, the role of health promotion practitioners remains obscure. Aim: To describe the role of health promotion practitioners during outbreaks in the OR Tambo District. Setting: The study was conducted in the Oliver Reginald (OR) Tambo District, a predominantly rural area in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Methods: The study used a qualitative descriptive-phenomenological design. The population comprised health promotion practitioners with a tertiary qualification. These were selected using snowball sampling until data saturation. Data were collected using individual face-to-face and telephonic interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Results: = 8) being female. Three themes were identified. Firstly, the implementation role in planning and health education. This was supported by three subthemes: (1) planning and organising, (2) health education collaboration with government departments and (3) multidisciplinary collaborative health education. Secondly, the theme was research, monitoring and evaluation, supported by two subthemes: (1) surveillance and assessment and (2) monitoring and evaluation. Thirdly, the theme, advocacy, was supported by the subtheme advocacy for health services. Conclusion: The roles of health promotion practitioners during outbreaks were aligned with the national strategy and could be optimised by inclusion in training and planning activities. Contribution: The study contributes to the efficient management of infectious disease outbreaks by clarifying the role of health promotion practitioners.
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DOI: 10.4102/jphia.v17i1.1650
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