A SWOT analysis of contemporary gaps and a possible diagnostic tool for environmental health in an upper-middle income country: a case study of South Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1. The SWOT analysis framework.

Table 1. A summary of the selected resources used to gather information.

Category	Number	Focus area
Journal articles	80	Environmental stressors, environmental pollution, solid waste management, indoor and outdoor air quality, community service, environmental exposure, SWOT analysis, population statistics, EH challenges and opportunities in RSA, human health, diseases outbreaks, data collection and research, bursaries, and higher education, pest control, food safety, political stability, disease prevention, risk assessment, and communicable diseases, disaster management
Books/chapters	6	Environmental health and sustainability
Conference proceedings	3	Environmental health and SWOT analysis
Policies	3	National Health Policy, constitution, EH guidelines, national health act, national environmental health policy, and rights
Organisational documents	4	EH scope of practice, hazard mapping institutions offering EH
Web pages	11	Invisibility of EHPs, fake EHPs, number of registered EHPs, population statistics

Table 2. Criteria used to score the identified SWOTs for environmental health in South Africa.

Internal factor evaluation		External factor evaluation
Rating	Meaning	Rating	Meaning
1	Major weakness	1	Poor response
2	Minor weakness	2	Average response
3	Minor strength	3	Above average response
4	Major strength	4	Superior response

Figure 2. The structure of environmental health in South Africa and functions at different levels.

Table 3. A summary of the SWOTs identified for environmental health in South Africa and their weights.

Strengths	Weight	Weaknesses	Weight
S1 Policies and regulations	0.1	W1 Shortage of human resource	0.1
S2 Political stability	0.05	W2 Community service backlog	0.2
S3 Knowledge sharing platforms	0.05	W3 Failure to render environmental health services	0.07
S4 Continuous professional development	0.03	W4 Lack of public awareness	0.07
		W5 Lack of training	0.05
		W6 Lack of standardisation in EH courses	0.01
		W7 Misdirected and misunderstood profession	0.1
		W8 Lack of data science approaches	0.06
		W9 Lack of research and development	0.06
		W10 Lack of specialisation	0.05
Opportunities	Weight	Threats	Weight
O1 Access to higher education	0.1	T1 Risk of outbreaks	0.3
O2 Research	0.05	T2 Lack of funding	0.3
O3 Specialisation	0.05	T3 Illegal practising and impersonation of EHPs	0.2

Table 4. Internal factor evaluation results.

Internal factors	Weight	Rating	Weighted score
S1 Policies and Regulations	0.1	4	0.4
S2 Political stability	0.05	3	0.15
S3 Knowledge sharing platforms	0.05	3	0.15
S4 Continuous personal development	0.03	3	0.09
Total	0.23	-	0.79
W1 Shortage of human resource	0.1	1	0.1
W2 Community service backlog	0.2	1	0.2
W3 Failure to render EHS	0.07	1	0.07
W4 Lack of public awareness	0.07	1	0.07
W5 Lack of training	0.05	1	0.05
W6 Lack of standardisation in EH courses	0.01	2	0.02
W7 Misdirected and misunderstood profession	0.1	3	0.3
W8 Lack of data science approaches	0.06	2	0.12
W9 Lack of research and development	0.06	1	0.06
W10 Lack of specialisation	0.05	1	0.05
Total	0.77		1.04
Total weighted score	1	-	1.83

Table 5. External factor evaluation results.

External factors	Weight	Rating	Weighted score
O1 Access to higher education	0.1	2	0.2
O2 Research and development	0.05	3	0.15
O3 Specialisation	0.05	2	0.1
Total	0.2	-	0.45
T1 Lack of funding	0.3	2	0.6
T2 Risk of outbreaks	0.3	2	0.6
T3 Illegal practising and impersonation of EHPs	0.2	3	0.6
Total	0.8	-	1.8
Total weighted score	1	-	2.25

Figure 3. Internal-external factor matrix.