We are gathered here to officially launch the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Strategy for South Africa 2008 to 2013, which aims at achieving greater relevance and focus, country ownership and mutual accountability.
The strategy, which was developed through a participatory process, provides an opportunity for the WHO Country Office to harmonise its planning cycle with that of South African government, development partners and other United Nations (UN) agencies in the spirit of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).
In short, it is a reference document, which serves as a planning, budgeting and resource guide. It reflects the priorities of the WHO which are in support of our government. It ensures that the activities of the WHO in our country are aligned with government priorities, our 10 point plan and programme of action (POA).
We stand to benefit from this exercise through technical assistance, advisory services, capacity building and disease surveillance, with a view to achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs). The strategy will improve coordination of the activities of the department and those of the WHO. It will enable us to better plan our interventions and address the challenges of the past, which include the following:
* a gap for information sharing between the department and development partners for agreement on priorities and programmes
* development partners do not lend themselves to mutual accountability, leading to conflict of roles and responsibilities between the two parties
* many development partners ignore the essential role of focal persons in the department for coordinating programme areas
* differences in planning cycles of partners and the Department of Health also made complementary planning difficult.
This is the beginning of the real coordination with United Nations Agencies. Similar strategies and mechanisms with the rest of United Nations Agencies for health, that is: United Nations Population fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank (WB) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) should be developed and approved by the department. There are over 25 bilateral, multilateral and international development partners for health sector development, and 15 United Nations agencies in South Africa.
Finally, we welcome this dynamic and evolving document which will continue to be reviewed from time to time. As South African government, we will provide necessary leadership role to ensure its effective implementation.
Issued by: Department of Health
22 October 2009
