Determining aspects of primary health care coverage in urban and rural areas of the Orange Free State

The study was undertaken to determine the primary health coverage of blacks living in urban and rural areas of the Orange Free State. A multistage cluster sampling method was used to select 120 clusters in each of the urban and rural areas. The field work was conducted and completed in less than a week per region by nursing staff employed by health services rendering services in urban and rural areas. Interviews were conducted at 948 urban and 970 rural black households. Over 95% of the inhabitants had access to safe water, 50,9% of urban and 45,1% of rural children who had had an acute diarrhoeal attack appeared to have received adequate oral rehydration therapy, and 65,6% of children 12-23 months of age in urban areas and 38,1% in rural areas were considered fully immunised. The infant mortality rate was 45,3/1000 in urban areas and 100,7 in rural areas. To reduce the infant mortality rates the World Health Organisation's programme for the control of diarrhoeal diseases has subsequently been introduced in the Orange Free State.