at the Departmental Womenâs Day Celebration, Pretoria
10 August 2006
Yesterday, 9 August, saw a multitude of women marching to the Union
Buildings. This march was organised to remember all the courageous women who
undertook an unprecedented march 50 years ago, to do away with the Dompass and
all its attendant repressive and de-humanising laws once and for all.
These were brave women who took the risk of marching to Pretoria. They did
so knowing very well that they could either be arrested, harassed or killed for
challenging the Apartheid regime and claim their dignity and self respect. No
wonder they came up with a very powerful slogan: âWathintâ abafazi, wathintâ
imbokodo uzokufa! (You strike a woman, you strike a rock, you will perish)â. I
hope many of you were able to participate in the march yesterday, to celebrate
our hard won gains.
We have organised this function to celebrate Womenâs Day as the national
Department of Health. Firstly we would like to use this occasion to honour the
many women who keep this organisation functioning. Your contribution is
appreciated.
I would also like to use this opportunity to draw your attention to what the
department is doing to improve the health status of all women. I hope that
after this session you will be come the ambassadors of the department and
explain to your communities about our programmes and policy interventions to
improve the lives of people.
This yearâs August celebrations are running under the theme: âAge of hope:
through struggle to freedomâ. This theme, although encouraging, clearly
indicates that there are still many battles to be won before we can achieve
full emancipation of women and gender equality in all spheres of our lives.
The many battles to be fought include the persisting unemployment, poverty,
diseases and poor health, deliberate and calculated violence against women and
children, and the difficult circumstances of orphans to mention a few. Despite
these challenges, our Government can certainly take pride in the tremendous
efforts that have been made to improve the status of women. Government has
passed several pieces of legislation to support a wide range of initiatives in
the quest for gender equality and equity.
We continue to provide free primary health care to all and free health care
to pregnant women and children less than six years. The provision of these
services is now a legal requirement enshrined in the National Health Act. The
issue of fees for services is a gender issue as many women still live in
conditions of poverty and are therefore, unable to pay for basic health
services.
The Department of Health has made efforts to ensure that health services
respond to the needs of women, including making reproductive health services
available and accessible to all women in the country.
The proportion of births that were attended to by either a nurse or doctor
has increased from 84% in 1998 to 92% in 2003. The main factors impacting on
maternal deaths as well as infant and child mortality are being addressed. We
are intensifying the implementation of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation,
Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and School Health Services to
improve the health of our children.
More than 77% of our health facilities were providing services to reduce the
risk of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV by the end of last year and these
services are being expanded to other facilities. We have made strides in
extending family planning and other services that empower women. The effects of
contraceptives on unwanted pregnancy cannot be underestimated. Hence the
Department has developed contraceptive service delivery guidelines.
The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act enables women to obtain
termination of pregnancy services at public health facilities. While this is a
reproductive health concern, it is also a gender issue. Women are sometimes not
in a position to prevent unwanted pregnancy, because of inequality in sexual
relationships.
We continue to empower women to prevent the spread of communicable diseases
such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria. We are encouraging women to
lead healthy lifestyles and undergo health screening to reduce the risk of
acquiring non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Efforts
are also being made to protect women from violence and comprehensive services
for care of survivors of sexual violence are being expanded.
The Department of Health is also providing services for screening of breast
and cervical cancer which affects many women. We should ensure that we use
these services to prevent serious health damage and deaths caused by these
diseases. More than 3,9 million households receive free basic water and free
basic electricity reaches 2,9 million households. These are programmes that are
making a real difference to the daily lives of women whose health would
otherwise have been compromised because of no access to these basic
services.
We have brought freedom to millions of women whose participation in the
socio-economic activities have been limited by the daily tussles of fetching
unsafe water from far away streams and collecting wood from distant forests.
All these achievements are part of governmentâs efforts to alleviate poverty
and improve the life and health status of women and the poor in general. The
empowerment of vulnerable groups particularly women is critical in improving
the quality of life of the general population.
Breaking the silence and raising the voice of women is a challenge that
faces women in South Africa and in Africa as a whole. We all need to work
together to bring the voices of women out in the open to be heard. We should be
able to speak out against abuse, against gender discrimination and other social
challenges that women encounters.
We should work together to increase the pace of substantive empowerment of
women, particularly at service delivery level. There is still a lot of ground
to be covered before we can confidently declare that we have achieved gender
equality in country.
We have it in our power to improve the lives of all women of South Africa.
Let us join hands in a peopleâs contract to fight poverty and create a better
life for all.
Wathintâ abafazi, wathintâ imbokodo uzokufa nya, finish!
Thank you
Issued by: Department of Health
10 August 2006
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
