24-26 April 2008, Manhattan Hotel, Pretoria
Theme: "The Wellness Centre Initiative: Goals, Values and Outcomes"
Programme Director
Honoured guests
Nursing Associations in the SADC Region
International Nursing Organisations from Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed an honour and privilege to be part of this Wellness Centre Initiative conference, which has been organised by the SADC AIDS Network of Nurses and Midwives, in collaboration with international partners, to establish a platform for networking between wellness centres in the region.
The acute context within which this conference is happening is that of strong commitment by the SADC region to scale up country action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This commitment was made at the African Union Workshop and Countdown to 2015 Conference, which were both held in this country last week. The MDGs are a good benchmark. They keep us working and focused. We are doing the best we can. I am confident that Africa will achieve the MDGs. If not, I have always said that there is life beyond 2015.
This gathering is also happening against the background of enormous economic and social burden, including the growing global food crisis, which will affect the poor in particular. The rising cost of food and oil as well as the increasing demand for electricity and the difficulties in ensuring its supply all contribute to challenges that we are currently experiencing. This in the context of an increasingly difficult economic climate and the increasing impact of climate changes.
These circumstances play a critical role in defining and re-defining the burden of diseases in our countries and its impact on our public health systems, which demands more investments in infrastructure and human resource development (which of course includes improving the working conditions of our health workers in order to cope with the growing challenge of improving the people's health status).
These issues also formed part of the agenda of the SADC Ministers of Health Meeting, which ended today, in Lusaka. Needless to say that these challenges are beginning to reverse hard-won development gains in our countries - they have resulted in a high mortality rate, a decline in life expectancy, and undermines the public sector institutions and capacities.
In the light of this, we agreed, as Ministers of Health that since resources, both human and financial, are scarce in the region, we therefore should resist the temptation to focus on programmes that are donor driven if they are not part of our own priorities. We must instead demand our governments to make available adequate resources to respond to our own needs including the social determinants.
We must move away from the disease-specific response and locate our response to include all diseases, such as non-communicable and communicable diseases, injuries and trauma, among others. I also do not believe in task-shifting. I believe in training for the needs of the country. This means that we need to engage as SADC with donors and share with them our programme of action so that our priorities can be the focus of the engagement with our partners.
This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Primary Health Care approach and the Alma Ata Declaration - whose key principles adopted in 1978, talks to issues of human rights, equity, decentralization of management of health care service, including intersectoral collaboration and community involvement. I am very proud to have been part of this International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata, (then USSR), 30 years ago.
The principles of the Alma Ata Declaration are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago - and will be revisited at an international conference on Primary Health Care in Burkina Faso next week and at the World Health Assembly, which meets in Geneva next month. I am also very proud that I have been invited to address this international conference on Primary Health Care on Monday next week, both as South African Minister of Health and as the Chair of the Bureau of African Ministers of Health.
This conference on wellness centre initiative is therefore an extension of our many efforts to strengthen our response against diseases, as it addresses the needs of the workers and prevention of factors that may compromise service delivery. In this ever-changing human resource landscape, I am confident that we can successfully overcome these health challenges through collective efforts. I do hope that your discussions will be located in these issues.
I am happy that that your gathering brings together regional and global partners to decide on a common vision of the role and function of the wellness centres and hope you could also work together to deal with stress at the workplace. The MECs of Health are working very hard to establish these centres. The health worker is a vital cog in the health service delivery wheel and keeping the health worker healthy must therefore be seen as a priority.
This conference also presents a unique opportunity to address you on issues affecting the wellness of our employees. Global trends show that since employees spend the greater proportion of their available time at the workplace, employers are realizing the need to extend their interest to the overall well-being of their employees.
To this extent, many employers are beginning to get involved in initiatives aimed at creating robust programmes to promote health at the workplaces. The health sector takes the lead in this regard. Workers' social, educational, psycho-social, emotional and other needs are being addressed in a holistic manner through comprehensive employee wellness programmes.
These include assisting employees in leading healthy lifestyles, participating in sports and leisure activities and promoting good nutrition. There are also initiatives aimed at assisting employees to cope with domestic problems, manage stress and improve management of their personal finances.
It is true that personal problems and work-related problems can adversely affect employees' well-being and their ability to perform effectively. We must look for innovative ways to take off the workload. As a region, it is important to ensure that our health workers are healthy both physically and emotionally as they are entrusted with caring for the lives of our people on a daily basis.
Under stressful circumstances, some people resort to alcohol and substance abuse. Such circumstances can result to low self-esteem, absenteeism from work and aggressive behaviour. These problems can make life difficult to such an extent that the social functioning of an individual is affected. As such, health workers struggle to leave these problems behind when they walk into the doors of our health facilities and other workplaces to embark on their daily responsibilities. Some health workers have diverse concerns which may not have originated in the working environment but which, if not timeously addressed, may have a detrimental effect on work performance and productivity.
It is in these circumstances that the benefits of an employee health and wellness programme can best be realized. In South Africa our Employee Health and Wellness strategy rests on four pillars namely: HIV and AIDS Management, Health and Productivity management, Occupational Hygiene and Safety Management and Wellness management. The overarching factor being healthy lifestyles or expenditures on health will keep escalating.
It is therefore important to have a strategy to deal with these issues that affect workers in the workplace as they pose risks in terms of service delivery. Employee wellness involves organized activities and systematic interventions in the workplace with the primary aim of providing health education, identification of health risks in the workplace and endeavors to influence health behavioural changes among the workforce.
It is also critical that we focus anew on healthy lifestyles. If individuals, households and communities are not empowered to take more responsibility for their health, then we will not be able to improve health status and dependence on the health system.
We need to find therefore innovative ways of doing this as the nature of families and communities change all the time. We need to focus on developing comprehensive and integrated health systems, which includes a seamless progression from activities within the household to the provision of health care at the different levels of care.
The public health sector finds itself competing with the private sector and with foreign markets to attract and retain the services of the health care workers. It goes without saying therefore, that the value added through initiatives such as this will go a long way in improving the working conditions of our health workers. This is an important contribution towards making the Department of Health the employer of choice - which is why it important to make nursing an attractive profession.
In the health sector, we have realized that in order to ensure a healthy nation we need to intensify our health promotion initiatives and create greater public awareness of what constitutes good health and a healthy lifestyle. There is an equally important need to ensure that our health workers are adequately supported at their workplaces and health facilities across the country. This will enable them to render quality healthcare services and treat patients with dignity and respect.
Lastly, as health workers, we can't sit in the periphery and not analyse the north and south politics as they impact on the health of the poor and delivery of services. We should locate our activities in the context of our continent.
I trust that the deliberations from this conference will serve as a catalyst to develop a framework to strengthen the capacity of Wellness Centre staff, establish mechanism to initiate catalogue of good practices to identify opportunities for common protocols, procurement, and training.
I look forward to your recommendations.
Thank you.