6 April 2006, Boksburg
Programme Director,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Thank you for your invitation to attend this symposium and I am glad that I am able to join you this morning.
You may be aware of the 8th World Conference on Violence Prevention and Safety Promotion which ended yesterday in Durban. This conference, which was held for first time in Africa, highlighted the need for all of us to address the triple burden of diseases affecting Africa.
Africa is facing a huge burden of communicable disease such as Malaria, TB and HIV and AIDS, which the world health response has tended to focus on.
Unfortunately, the chronic diseases of lifestyle are escalating in our continent without much global attention. The conference in Durban highlighted injuries, disabilities and mortality associated with various forms of violence as a major public health problem.
Therefore, our discussions on health need to take these issues into consideration. We have to ensure that we address all the major causes of death in our society and allocate resources in manner respond to the range of health problems facing us.
I know that Red Cross and Red Crescents are involved in a number of programmes on disaster management and various humanitarian operations. Thank you for your outstanding work and for collaboration with governments in assisting people who are devastated by various forms of disasters. Your work through the Flying Doctors is also commendable.
I remember the good initiative in which the Department of Health worked with Red Cross in distributing donations made by many South Africans to destitute families as part the Caring Together campaign during the World AIDS Day in 2003. We need to promote these types of collaborations and to work together in addressing various social challenges facing our communities.
Home and Community Based Care is a central tenant of the care component of our comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS. This service is provided mainly through non-governmental and community based organizations. Currently there are more than 2 000 Home or Community Based Care projects countrywide.
The objectives of the home community based care program are to:
* To ensure access to care and follow-up through a functional referral system
* To ensure that children and families who are affected and infected by HIV and AIDS access social welfare services within their communities.
Government provides financial and technical support to a large number of NGOs that provide these services. The Department of Health in particular has increased the budget allocated for support of NGOs involved in the response to AIDS and TB from R49 million in 2005/2006 financial year to R56 million in 2006/2007.
There is a need for more and more partnerships with community based organizations and non-governmental organizations. We need support of all sectors - faith-based organizations, private sectors and others - in our society in order to address this developmental challenge.
As you know, in addition to the care and support, our comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS also covers the areas of prevention, treatment, research and human rights. Prevention of new infections is the mainstay of our response and our prevention interventions focus particularly on our young people as they are the future of this country.
Building on the high levels of HIV and AIDS awareness in the country and in line with the resolution of Afro region of the World Health Organisation, we have declared 2006 as the year of accelerated HIV and AIDS prevention. We are intensifying communication and behavior change messages and interventions targeting particularly those groups that still pose a challenge in terms of the risk of transmission and spread of HIV.
In order to boost the prevention strategy, we have doubled the number of health facilities providing Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) from 1 500 in 2003 to about 3 700 in 2004. The number of people that have utilized this service also increased from 691 000 in 2002 to 1,3 million in 2004. This service is available for everybody and we should encourage people to use it to know their HIV status.
We believe that taking good care of your health can prolong the progression from HIV infection to development of AIDS defining illnesses. It is therefore important to encourage people to take care of their health by engaging in physical activity, stop smoking and avoiding alcohol and substance abuse.
The message to encourage healthy lifestyle should be spread to all our people in order to promote good health and prevent diseases.
Good nutrition is critical in maintaining good health and prolonging life. Nutrition involves more than availability of food but also consumption of certain amount of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
Through the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS, there are now service points in every district for the provision of a range of interventions including prevention, nutrition, management of opportunistic infections and treatment with antiretroviral drugs. Efforts are underway to intensify the research and development of African traditional medicines which demonstrate effectiveness in alleviating conditions associated with HIV and AIDS.
The investment in the health system through infrastructural upgrades, the improvement in commodity stock management, information management systems, the improved human resources management and capacity development, the strengthening of laboratory services and referral system is being increased significantly.
Most of these interventions are funded from the government fiscus. The HIV and AIDS budget allocation channelled through the Health Department increased from R264 million in 2001 to R1.5 billion in 2005. This led to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan commending the country for substantial increase in budgetary allocation in his last report to the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS.
In the build up to yet another UN Special Session on HIV and AIDS next month, South Africa has participated actively in the global discussion to review progress made in the fight against HIV and AIDS. South Africa participated in the Global Steering Committee convened by UNAIDS to identify challenges and seek measures to achieve universal access.
We worked hard as a country to broaden the definition of universal access to encompass prevention, care and treatment as critical elements of a response to HIV and AIDS. I am glad that this comprehensive approach, which has been championed by SA government for many years, is beginning to gain broader support.
There is no doubt that much progress has been made in addressing the challenge of HIV and AIDS in the country. There are indeed challenges which we have all acknowledged and are seeking ways to address them. As we make presentation to the United Nations next month, we need to share our best practices with the world and learn from the experiences of fellow UN member states.
We need to ensure appropriate projection of the work done by many South Africans and their government in curbing the spread of HIV infection and reducing the impact of AIDS.
Once again, thank you for your invitation and I wish fruitful deliberations during this symposium.
Thank you for listening to me.