South Africa News

Just under three weeks of having landed in South Africa as the new World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative in South Africa, Dr Akpaka Kalu, has already held a series of introductory meetings with United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator (RC), Ms Nardos Bekele-Thomas; South Africa’s Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi; Member of the Executive Committee for Health for the KwaZulu National Provincial Department, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo; KwaZulu Natal Province Head of Health, Dr Musa Gumede; and the University of KwaZulu Natal WHO Collaborating Centre for Educating Nurses and Midwives in Problem-solving. Beyond introducing himself, Dr Kalu also focused on learning about South Africa’s state of health from the key informants and share WHO’s mandate of supporting member states in improving their health outcomes; affirming that WHO would continue to support the national health system in three investment pillars: normative guidance; implementation support; and generation and use of evidence to support implementation and guide policies and strategies.

South Africa’s Ministry of Health declared the end of the world’s largest listeriosis outbreak today (3 September). The World Health Organization (WHO) applauds the country and all those involved in ending the outbreak for their efforts, while calling for continued work on strengthening the country’s food safety system.

South Africa’s Ministry of Health declared the end of the world’s largest listeriosis outbreak today (3 September). The World Health Organization (WHO) applauds the country and all those involved in ending the outbreak for their efforts, while calling for continued work on strengthening the country’s food safety system.

As part of the centenary celebrations of former President Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu, WHO joined government, other UN agencies and various social partners on 10 July 2018 on a 100 Men March through the Pretoria streets of South Africa to boldly declare that violence against women and children will not be tolerated in respective environment or communities.

The Health Market inquiry (HMI) established by competition commission to investigate South Africa’s private healthcare market released its provisional report on 5th July 2018 in the presence of the Minister of Health, media and stakeholders from healthcare sector. The HMI was chaired by Judge Sandile Ngcobo, a retired Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. The Commission after 4 years of detailed investigation and multiple stakeholder consultations concluded that: Private health market is characterised by high and rising costs of healthcare and medical scheme cover; disempowered and uninformed consumers; and ineffective regulation and failures of accountability at many levels. The 808 page provisional report makes several interesting findings and lists out some recommendations including (but not limited to): Establishment of a supply side regulator to set the rules of the game and scrutinize the private sector: Measurement and Public reporting of health outcomes by the private providers to improve competition and inform patients about quality of care; Replacement of Certificates of Need with hospital licences for equitable spread of facilities across the country.

The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, approved by the Cabinet of the Republic of South Africa (the Bill) and published for public comment until Thursday 9 August 2018, is a highly comprehensive piece of tobacco control legislation. It is consistent with South Africa’s obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and brings South Africa back to the forefront of international tobacco control best practice. The Bill updates existing tobacco control laws to keep pace with global tobacco control recommendations and allows the effective regulation of new tobacco products, in particular electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems (ENDS/ENNDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs). These and other novel and emerging tobacco products are not adequately covered under South Africa’s current tobacco control legislation which was drafted to regulate cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products.

As part of ongoing initiatives and programmes to provide integrated people centred health services, South Africa’s Gauteng Department of Health held an inaugural provincial Summit titled Research and Innovation Summit at Birchwood, Johannesburg. Themed “Evidence and innovation for long and healthy lives: confronting risks and unlocking the potentials”, the summit: 1. Created a learning opportunity that brought together the WHO, academia, administrators, students, community representatives, oversight bodies, lawmakers, health service providers, exhibitors and leaders from across the province and international participants. 2. Promoted and strengthened the state of translational research and health system strengthening as well as patient safety in the Province. 3. Encouraged researchers, practitioners and managers to use research outcomes for evidence based planning and sharing strategies and innovations to improve health systems performance.

South Africa’s Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, announced yesterday that the country has 727 laboratory-confirmed cases that occurred between January 2017 and 5 January 2018. He made this announcement at a national media conference accompanied by Prof Lucille Blumberg, Specialist Microbiologist, and Dr Juno Thomas, Head of the Centre for Enteric Diseases, both of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD); Dr Rufaro Chatora, Country Representative from the World Health Organization; Mr Mooketsa Ramasodi, Acting Director General for the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF); and Ms Tiny Rennie, Acting Director-General of the Department of Health.

Many health systems rely on health programmes to target interventions for specific diseases or populations. These programs can be effective while operating largely autonomously from one another in seeking to optimize the achievement of one or more specific objectives. This organizational approach, however, can also constrain the evolution of the health system in its ability to adapt to changing morbidity patterns, technological advances, among other issues. Many countries are now moving away from this vertical organizational approach towards more coordinated and integrated systems.

The WHO Country Representative in South Africa, Dr Rufaro Chatora, called on the Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA) to voice its support of and promote the Country’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI). Dr Chatora was addressing the opening plenary of the PHASA’s 13th Annual Conference that took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. “I scan media every day and I hear Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, lone voice promoting NHI. However, there is almost nothing from PHASA”.