Programme director
Distinguished guests
Eminent visitors
Fellow South Africans
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning.
It is indeed a great honour and privilege for us to be invited to this important workshop. It is also very encouraging to note that the community of scientists and academics in our country are responding positively to our call for partnership. It is even more gratifying to note that the focus of your workshop goes to the heart of our challenges, namely to craft a strategy that is specific for South Africa based on the Disease Control Priorities project-2 (DCP-2).
Let me remind those of you who attended the Wits Public Health Research Day that I have expressed, on that day, the most sincere wish of the Ministry of Health that relations and partnerships between the Ministry plus Department of Health and all stakeholders in the health sector, especially academics and researchers, should be strengthened during this term of governance. I still stand by that assertion. Our participation in this workshop adds to the strengthening of this partnership.
South Africa needs a body of thinkers who will take a lead in encouraging policy makers, planners, leaders, health professionals and service providers to use information and knowledge that is evidence-based. It also needs tools that have been benchmarked with the best in the world. Your effort in the Disease Control Priorities project: South Africa (DCP SA) must lead to our increased capacity, as a country, to make better, quality and informed decisions in the health sector. It should also lead to integration and better coordination of scientific communities at home and abroad.
Your efforts to weld together skills and competencies to translate information into knowledge for national priorities are appreciated. Users of health services and the public at large must be empowered by the product that will result from this project to be able to appreciate our sincere toil towards a better life for all, but also to hold us accountable for when our decisions compromise their health and resources that are at our disposal.
I have found the review of the DCP-1 and DCP-2 by Mr Rajiv Misra, former Secretary of Health in India, very informative. His assessment of DCP-2 is that it is “a major step forward in pulling together and analysing the extensive body of knowledge gained so far and placing it before decision makers for meeting the huge challenges facing developing countries”. The fact that the DCP SA aims to follow in the footsteps of such an important body of knowledge is a matter we appreciate, as it is a tool that we need at this stage of our development.
We have just emerged from the meeting of the National Health Council which discussed, amongst others, our 2009/10 health programme of action (POA). This POA is based on the ten point plan, which is the basis of our programmes in from 2009 to 2014. High amongst our priorities stated in the POA are the provision of strategic leadership and creation of a social compact for better health outcomes; and the strengthening of research and development. You are invited to partner with us as active implementers of this programme of action. This POA is a product of wide consultations and a tool to meet the many challenges faced by the public and private health sector.
From the above it should be clear that we value our partnership and your leadership of the DCP SA. Our genuine efforts to engage with the broader pool of stakeholders in health on this matter will make this project a success. Amongst our priorities are research on infant mortality rate, the impact of social determinants of health and nutrition, indigenous knowledge systems, health and the environment and reviewing the research capacity of academic health complexes.
The broad goals of the DCP SA augur well with our plans. This project aims to ensure that health priorities are based on good evidence that the health system is efficient, effective and economic in the face of scarce fiscal resources and that we should determine how best to bridge gaps between research and service leadership with respect to financing for healthcare. These are noble goals, which we should all strive to achieve.
Returning to our POA, it is worth noting that we have prioritised the implementation of the national health insurance (NHI) in during this term of governance. This is the context in which many of our programmes are designed and implemented. We cannot afford to wait any longer to take the nation into confidence and consult on the details of the NHI. You have to be ready to engage in discussions on this matter, as the design and conduct of the DCP SA will have to take into consideration the final decisions that will be taken, after national consultations, on the needs of the country and conditions necessary for the implementation of the NHI.
Further transformation of the national health system, including its overhaul towards a better health dispensation, will need decisive interventions that are evidence-based. This is one of the ways in which we can assure the nation that the quality of health services will be improved.
Most of you should be aware that on 22 July this year, His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr Jacob Zuma, and Sir Richard Branson, together with the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the Minister in the Presidency for National Planning, Mr Trevor Manuel, launched a partnership on the establishment of a disease control hub in South Africa. This initiative is a presidential project that is scheduled to be discussed with ministers of health in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This initiative aims to help South Africa and the SADC to fight priority diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and diabetes. The DCP SA should find ways of contributing positively to this presidential project.
We appreciate your efforts to contribute positively to our national effort towards a better life for all. Please always remember that the doors of the Ministry of Health are always open for positive partnerships.
I wish you the best in your deliberations. We look forward to receiving reports from this important workshop.
Together we can do more.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Health
11 August 2009
