South Africa News

UN agencies have agreed to develop a joint work plan on antiretroviral (ART) adherence after the WHO in South Africa presented the current status and challenges of ART adherence to UN agencies. This followed a request by the UN Resident Coordinator on how UN agencies could contribute to improving adherence rates.

ART adherence is particularly important in South Africa which has the largest treatment program in the world and is rapidly expanding ART to over 3 million people and introducing new policies for earlier treatment initiation.

Polokwane, 22 September 2015 - The WHO Representative in South Africa, Dr Sarah Barber, has issued a statement of support to the National Department of Health which is holding a two-day conference in Polokwane to commemorate World Environmental Health Day (WEHD) on 26 September. The Country Office also provided technical support for this meeting which over 600 environmental health professionals and key stakeholders are expected to attend.

Pretoria, August 2015 - WHO has called on the global health community to urgently address gaps in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria. South Africa has a Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan (MSP) which aims to achieve zero local malaria transmission in South Africa by 2018. With WHO country office assistance, the Mid-Term Review was held to assess the implementation of the interventions, strategies and activities in the three year period 2012/13-2014/15 of the current MSP and to propose changes required to achieve elimination of malaria in South Africa by 2018.

North West Province, 19-21 August 2015 - The WHO country office has been supporting the NDOH in developing and finalising the National Adherence Strategy on Chronic Diseases (HIV, TB & Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). The strategy has been finalised and will be reviewed by the National Health Council in September. It was thus decided to work on a pilot implementation of this strategy. To this end, it was decided that orientation training was needed in some sites. Four provinces were identified with sites and controls in each of these relevant districts.

Medical malpractice is becoming costly, with litigation costs ranging from 2%-10% of total healthcare spending. Obstetrics is under particular scrutiny as amongst the highest litigation settlements. Specialists perceived as being under higher liability risks are likely to practice ‘defensive’ medicine, leading to an increase in unnecessary clinical procedures.  

Pretoria, August 2015 - The WHO Country Office is providing technical support to the National Department of Health on various aspects of VMMC with support from the US Government through PEPFAR to be able to meet the ambitious Medical Male Circumcision (MMC) targets by 2016.

To support the National Department of Health’s policy development, the WHO Country Office commissioned a review of policies and programs used to improve the quality of medical care and reduce practice variation.  The review found that quality of care is measurable, and variations in practice have been documented in most countries. Variations in the use of cost‐effective health procedures have important implications for efficacy and cost, and health outcomes.

30 June 2014 -- Immunization averts some 2.5 million premature deaths a year according to estimates and protects millions of children from illness and disability. Parents and children attending a South African clinic are among those today who will reap the benefits of routine immunization from the first days of life.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has officially released a report on Pricing and competition in specialist medical services on a seminar organized by the WHO South Africa on Tuesday 17 June 2014. This paper argues that South Africa should separate the task of establishing a schedule of medical services from negotiations over overall payments to medical professionals.

WHO AFRO and WHO Rotavirus Regional Reference Laboratory for Africa at Medunsa Campus, Pretoria, partnered to carry out the 14th African Rotavirus Network Training Workshop at the University of Limpopo, Medunsa campus, just completed on 6 June.