24 November 2005
The National Health Council (NHC), made up of the Minister, Deputy Minister and MECs for Health from all provinces and their Heads of Department, held their regular meeting to discuss various health issues.
The meeting discussed the challenges posed by tuberculosis as a major cause of death in the country and agreed to develop a TB Crisis Management Plan to address the spread and negative impact of the disease.
Major challenges facing the TB Control Programme include:
Districts with most challenges on TB control will be identified in all provinces and will become focus areas for targeted national and provincial interventions. The interventions will include additional support for TB management including staffing and additional intensified community mobilization programme and monitoring and evaluation.
The TB Crisis Management Plan should be finalized soon and implementation should commence at the beginning of next year.
The NHC noted the progress that has been made towards the finalization of the Charter for the Health Sector and the efforts made in accommodating the interests of various stakeholders in the current revised draft Health Charter.
The health stakeholders will consider the draft Charter in a meeting to be held in Johannesburg on Monday, November 28. NHC urged all stakeholders to work together towards attaining the objective of an equitable and accessible quality health care for all as envisioned in the draft Charter for the Health Sector.
The NHC also received a preliminary report of the South African Demographic and Health Survey for 2003. The report indicates that significant progress has been made in improving the overall health status of all South Africans. However, there are areas that still require particular attention to improve health outcomes. These include improving immunization coverage to reduce the infant mortality rate and better quality of services relating to maternal and women’s health.