Health Promotions Officer(HPO)

DESCRIPTION

Health Promotion Officer is new profession in health sector that deal with prevention of diseases and improving
health lifestyles.

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION

Purpose:
The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to:
• Carry out basic assessments of communities, households groups and individuals.
• Provide basic health education and referrals for a wide range of services.
• Support and assist in navigating the health and social services system.

Rationale:
The National Health Council has mandated an improvement in the health outcomes and for this to occur significant steps need
to be taken in the restructuring of the health system. This is one of the 10 points in the five year Health Sector 10 Point Plan,
noted as ‘overhauling the healthcare system’. It is also the fourth pillar of the Negotiated Service Delivery Agreement as
‘strengthening the effectiveness of the health system’. This qualification will form an integral part of this strategy. It will form
the basis for the appointment requirements of the Community Health Workers that will be employed by the various government
departments (currently an estimated number of approximately 70 000 people).
The caveat for the South African model should be built on the ward system that has been implemented in KwaZulu-Natal. Each
ward should have one or more Primary Health Care (PHC) outreach teams. These teams are composed of a professional nurse,
environmental health and health promotion practitioners as well as 4-5 community health workers who are expected to serve a
population of approximately 7 660 people.
The model contains three streams:
• Award based PHC outreach team for each electoral ward.
• Strengthening school health services.
• District based clinical specialist teams with an initial focus on improving maternal and child health.
Evidence from many countries suggests that provision of home and community based health services and their links with the
fixed PHC facilities in particular are critical to achieve good health outcomes, especially child health outcomes (Sepulveda et al,
2006). The role of community health workers in many countries has contributed to better health outcomes (WHO 2007).
The roles of Community Health Workers (CHW) (as part of the PHC outreach teams) will include:
• Conducting community, household and individual health assessments and identifying health needs and risks (actual and
potential) and facilitating the family or an individual to seek the appropriate health service.
• Promoting the health of the households and the individuals within these households.
• Referring persons for further assessment and testing after performing simple basic screening.
• Providing limited, simple health interventions in a household (e.g. basic first aid, oral rehydration and any other basic
intervention that she or he is trained to provide).
• Providing psychosocial support and managing interventions such as treatment defaulter tracing and adherence support.
Given the key role that CHWs will play, they should, over time be directly managed by the Department of Health.
Ideally each ward within the district should be covered with a PHC outreach team. There are 4,277 electoral wards in South
Africa. The population sizes of wards are variable so to the geography and density of each ward. Urban wards are highly
populated with high density whilst rural wards are sparsely populated and often with poor infrastructure. This means that ward
populations may range from less than 1000 in some wards to more than 20 000 in others.
This qualification will capacitate the Community Health Workers to fulfil their role in this revised structure.

CAREER FIELDS
Upon successful completion of this programme, learners will be able to work in Health Care Centers including
clinics, Testing and counseling centers, rehabilitation centers, TB Centers, Schools, waste disposal plants, water purification
plants,mines, Health Research centers, Cancer foundation, heart foundation, diabetes foundation, social department, department of
housing , food manufacturing industries, pharmaceutical industries.

Duties may include but not limited to :

• Treat simple diseases, injuries, wounds and refer to the clinic
  • Provide basic nursing care
  • Take temperature, Bp, Pulse and respiration
  • Check outbreak of transmitted diseases, teach and refer for treatment
  • Check Sexual Transmitted Infections, teach and refer for treatment
  • Check children and refer for immunisation
  • Check pregnant mothers, mothers who have given birth and their babies and refer for treatment
  • HIV and AIDS testing and counselling
  • Check drug and substance abusers and refer them to rehabilitation centres
  • Teach people about dangers of drug and substance abuse
  • Teach people about cleanliness of in-house, environment and water
  • Teach about women and men’s health
  • Teach about child’s health
  • Teach about health life styles
  • Provide palliative care

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

This qualification is made up of the following compulsory Knowledge and Practical Skill Modules:

Knowledge Subjects:

• Public and Community health support.
• Family and Community Services.
• Basics of Community Health

Practical Skills Modules:

• Mobilise community to address community health issues.
• Identify the service needs and ease of access to health and social services
• Promote healthy life styles and mental wellbeing,.
• Promote HIV prevention including HIV testing, condom use, partner reduction, circumcision, STI treatment,.• Provide information on prevention of accidents and incidents in homes,
• Record and report on information provided to individuals, households and communities,.
• Promote and provide support for maternal and women’s health,.
• Promote child health.
• Support community members with psychosocial problems,.
• Provide an integrated approach to support treatment adherence,
• Identify and treat a select number of minor ailments,.
• Provide basic support to people who are unable to care for themselves.

Work Experience Modules:

• Operation and dynamics of communities.
• Household registration and assessment processes,.
• Health promotion processes.
• Formal health provision processes,.
• Emotional and social wellness support processes.
• Household treatment processes of minor ailments.

TYPE OF PROGRAMME

• Full Time: Minimum 1 Year
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Ancillary Health Care NQF Level 1 or
ABET Level 4 with FLC or
Matric (Grade 12) No specific subjects are required.
LEARNER MATERIAL
All textbooks and other required manuals are included in the tuition fees.
PRICING
Enquire at the Hatfield City College campus for a current programme pricelist.
ADDITIONAL COSTS
There are NO additional costs, though every learner will have to buy their own practical equipments(nursing
equipment) and supplies.
EXAMINATION AUTHORITY
All learners are required to write External Integrated Summative Assessments (EISA) examinations, It is a single national
assessment leading to the awarding of an occupational certificate, these exams are set and administered by both HWSETA and QCTO.

CERTIFICATION

Learners will write national exams (EISA) after completing the course. Exams are written in March and October/
November every year.

Learners who have passed National Examination (EISA) will be awarded Occupational Certificate: Health Promotion
Officer by Quality Council for Trades & Occupations

ARTICULATION
Mid level course is being developed to bridge to Degree in Health Promotion Officer, Degree in Health Promotion Higher
Certificate, and in Social Auxiliary worker level 5.

FURTHER STUDIES
Please enquire at the nearest Hatfield City College campus for the prospectus containing post-certificate studies.
DISCLAIMER
The information contained in this fact sheet is accurate at the time of printing. However, factors beyond Hatfield City
College control (such as environmental, regulatory or technical changes) may cause the contents of this fact sheet or of the
programme to change. In the event of any such change, Hatfield City College will formally notify current learners. All
possible measures will be taken to minimise inconvenience to learners.