Eastern Cape – Health

The Eastern Cape Department of Health is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa which is spread over an area of 168,966 km2 and constitutes 13.8% of the South Africa land area. The 2011 Census data showed that the province has a population of 6,562,053. The largest proportions of the population are concentrated at OR Tambo and Nelson Mandela Metro Districts with 20.8% and 17.6% of the total population respectively. Joe Gqabi District has the smallest population constituting 5.3%.Approximately 61.1% of the population is younger than 30 years and 11.7% of these are under the age of 5 years. About 88% (5 856 276) of the EC population is serviced by the public health sector, as medical aid coverage in this province is only 12%.