President Jacob Zuma met with the Chairman of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, and today at the Union Buildings in Tshwane. The meeting also included the Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, and the Minister in the Presidency for National Planning, Trevor Manuel.
President Zuma and Sir Richard discussed a prospective partnership between Virgin Unite, the not for profit foundation of the Virgin Group, and the South African government through the Ministry of Health on the establishment of a Disease Control Hub in South Africa.
This would be a unique public-private partnership to create a Disease Control Hub that will help fight priority diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), diabetes and other emergent health priorities, in South Africa and regionally. It will ensure that existing important initiatives can be better integrated and supported.
Expressing his government's support for the initiative, President Zuma said: "Health is a key priority for government and the Disease Control Hub is an innovative and needed resource to help strengthen our health system and health information."
Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, said: "The Disease Control Hub is a critical initiative to help stop needless suffering from diseases such as TB, AIDS, and other health conditions that have needlessly killed large numbers of people and hampered the growth of this incredible country. By delivering better data and helping to scale responses more quickly, this initiative will play an important role in transforming the health sector in South Africa.
"We are pleased to be working closely with the South African Government and would like to call out to other business leaders, foundations and international bodies to join us in this partnership that will ultimately help save millions of lives."
President Zuma praised Sir Richard for his willingness to contribute to the improvement of the country’s disease control capacity, and welcomed the initiative that Virgin Unite and partners had taken in this regard.
The meeting agreed that the Department of Health would work with Virgin Unite to further develop and refine the initiative within the context of existing partnerships.
Enquiries:
Fidel Hadebe
Department of Health
Tel: 079 517 3333
Charlotte Goodman
Virgin Unite
Tel: +44 (0) 772 289 5159
E-mail: charlotte.goodman@virginunite.co.uk
Nick Fox
Tel:+ 44 (0) 7711 727 618
(South Africa phone via Ingrid von Stein, +27 82 327 8563)
E-mail: nick.fox@virgin.co.uk
Issued by: The Presidency
22 July 2009
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
