J Radebe: Signing of agreement between South Africa and Commission of
African Union

9 March 2007

Honourable Advocate Bience Gawanas, the AU Commissioner for Social Affairs
and your delegation
Deputy Minister Ms Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge
Members of the National Health Council (NHC)
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the AU Commissioner, Advocate
Bience Gawanas and her delegation on your visit to South Africa.

We are delighted that the agreement with the material and technical
organisation of the third ordinary session between the government of the
Republic of South Africa and the Commission of the AU, has been concluded and
will be signed today.

The purpose of this hosting agreement that we are signing today is to
develop and ensure co-operation between the two parties for the purpose of
conducting a successful third session of the AU Ministers of Health
Conference.

It has become apparent that Africa has made significant strides towards
sustainable development, but its heavy burden of disease continues to undermine
economic growth and damage the continent's social fabric.

Poverty and its sequel remains a crucial barrier to faster development. The
problem of adequately managing and controlling Africa's disease burden
continues to be one of the continent's major challenges and is a constraint to
socio-economic development. This ever increasing disease burden, despite good
plans and strategies is a concern to us as policy makers.

Healthy nations in Africa will be more able to robustly overcome poverty by
development and social economic growth. This in turn will lead to an improved
quality of life for the people of Africa. Good health will help us succeed.

This has prompted the AU Ministers of Health to improve on all the existing
health strategies by consolidating the African Health Strategy. This will
enable the AU to focus on our priority areas.

This will also infuse and develop the implementation plans. The main goal of
this conference will be to develop an African health strategy in a consultative
way. The AU and its programmes and the regional economic communities and Member
States will use this strategy as the framework within which they will fulfil
their roles.

More often than not, the agenda and profile of the disease burden in Africa
is set by other international organisations which may not be aware of the
circumstances and emerging problems in the continent.

It is time that the African people define their own disease burden, set
their research agenda and design their own strategies to deal with the disease
burden and ensure that the challenges are addressed in a holistic manner.

Through this conference, African Ministers of Health will have an
opportunity to share experiences, best practices and enhance networking on how
to improve the health situation in Africa. This will also advise and guide
African Heads of State and governments, accordingly.

This must improve the health systems and address the human resource
challenges in Africa.

The signing of this hosting agreement between the government of the Republic
of South Africa and the AU is a sign of our joint recommitment to the
consolidation of the African Agenda, which vocalises New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the AU programmes in the health sector.

We are all aware that during the second ordinary session of the AU
Conference of Ministers of Health (CAMH2) held in Gaborone, Botswana from the
10 to 14 October 2005, South Africa offered to host the third ordinary session
under the theme, "Strengthening of Health Systems for Equity and
Development."

The approach for the conference strongly proposes strengthening of the
health systems through improved resources, policies and management. This will
contribute towards equity through a system that reaches the poor and those in
need of good quality healthcare. It must improve their lives.

This agreement will lead to the hosting of the third session of the AU
Conference of Ministers of Health to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre
from Monday, 9 to 13 April 2007. The conference will comprise of a plenary
session led by Ministers and supported by high level officials, running from 10
to 13 April 2007.

I would like to thank our officials who managed to conclude this agreement
and made this day possible.

I would further like to encourage them to carry this spirit to the
successful conclusion of the conference. Most importantly it must ensure
successful implementation and delivery of services to improve the health of our
people in Africa.

Honourable advocate Gawanas and your delegation members, may I reiterate our
collective welcome to our country. We are pleased to be able to sign this
agreement and so add to the contribution of a successful and healthy
Africa.

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Health
9 March 2007