Ilembe District, KwaZulu-Natal
30 September 2007
Programme Director
MEC for Health in KwaZulu-Natal, Neliswa Nkonyeni
Inkosi Khuzwayo
Mayor of Ilembe District Municipality and other councillors present here
today
Friends and partners from the non governmental organisation (NGO) sector
Ladies and gentlemen
It is indeed great pleasure for me to be here today to mark a very important
day in our calendar as health workers and as government. For us, this day, held
under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) calls upon all of us,
collectively and individually to give attention to the threat of unhealthy
life-styles and their contribution to cardiovascular diseases. Quite often
though, some amongst us would have us believe or pretend that cardiovascular
and other life-style diseases are not a threat enough to give serious attention
to. Today is a day through which we take stock and re-commit ourselves to keep
such diseases in check.
In deciding on the theme 'Healthy Families, Healthy Communities,' the WHO in
our view sought to emphasise the importance of teamwork, in addressing the
challenges of life-style diseases particularly cardiovascular diseases. This
theme is a call for all of us, as individuals, families and communities to
start doing all those things that will minimise our chances of developing
non-communicable chronic diseases such as heart diseases. This of course
entails healthy eating habits, keeping fit through regular exercise and
avoiding the use of tobacco products such as cigarettes amongst others. With
regard to the latter, it is a known fact that the use of tobacco products is
one of the major contributing factors in as far as cardiovascular diseases are
concerned.
While on this point, Programme Director, allow me to report back to all the
people gathered here today and all South Africans that this past week we tabled
in the national council of provinces the Tobacco Products Control Amendment
Bill. Once it is signed into law, this Bill will further strengthen our hand as
the Department of Health in controlling the sometimes irresponsible and
insensitive use of tobacco products and thus save the majority our people from
secondary tobacco smoke. In this way, we are hopeful and in fact confident that
this will further contribute in our fight against all these diseases that are
induced by tobacco products.
This Programme Director, is a commitment that we are not going to relent on,
for in doing so we will not only be failing those innocent children and babies
who are always exposed to tobacco smoke but we will also be exposing our health
care system as a whole to the ever-increasing burden of disease and the cost
associated with it.
Programme Director, we cannot however afford to turn a blind eye to other
contributing factors such as the lack of regular exercise and it is for this
reason that as the Department of Health we are committed in driving a programme
such as the Healthy Lifestyles Campaign which we started a few years ago. One
such programme is the Vuka South Africa - Move For Your Health, aimed at
encouraging our people to engage in physical activities such as taking regular
walks and other such activities.
For us, a programme such as this one is a very useful one from the point of
view of investing on educating all of our people about the importance of
looking after our health and thus avoid the onset of diseases. Much as most of
these chronic non-communicable diseases are curable, for us as the Department
of Health the old saying of prevention being better than cure, still holds
true. Allow me Programme Director to briefly point out some of our most
successful interventions that we have embarked upon in pushing this
campaign:
* The establishment of multi-sectoral task team consisting of the private
sector, public sector, NGOs and community based organisations (CBOs). This
partnership was established with a view to collaborate on matters of mutual
interest such as nutrition and share resources in achieving common
objectives,
* Health Screening Service and Education Programmes through which we encourage
everyone to go for regular check-ups and thus be able to notice the advent of
any disease and immediately start with treatment. As always we wish to
encourage all of our people to have regular visits to healthcare facilities
such as clinics to be checked,
* Establishment of community-based food garden projects. This past weekend for
instance we were in Centowcow to launch one such project as a way of
encouraging good nutrition and food security,
* The Move for Health campaigns as a way of promoting regular physical activity
and thus minimise our chances of developing cardiovascular diseases amongst
others.
Programme Director ladies and gentlemen, as I said in the beginning of this
speech, I am very encouraged by the participation of our partners in the NGO
sector as we mark a day such as this. Without your continued participation and
support, most of the work that we are mandated to do as government becomes
increasingly difficult to do. I feel encouraged therefore by the level and
extent of progress that we have made through inter-sectoral and
multi-disciplinary interventions in managing and reducing the spread of
cardiovascular diseases in our country.
As we speak today, we have established partnerships with fast-foods outlets
with a view to encouraging them to include healthy foods in their menus so that
our people have much more wider options in terms of what they want to eat. The
response from this industry has been very encouraging and we are confident soon
we are going to begin to see the results that we all desire.
Equally, we have been heartened by the response of one of the country's
major retail stores, Shoprite in agreeing to partner with us in placing
advertising boards on their trolleys to encourage and remind people about the
importance of vegetables and fruits in our diet and thus promote good
nutrition. As the Department of Health we are going to doing more in advancing
such partnerships with the retail sector because we are convinced that we are
united in our quest of a healthy nation.
In conclusion Programme Director, allow me to call upon all South Africans,
young and old to join in our campaign to promote healthy-styles. Now is the
time for all of us to get rid of all of those habits that pre-dispose us to
non-communicable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. It is those
little simple things such as regular physical exercise, eating healthy foods
and of course avoiding the use of tobacco products that will put us on the road
to good, healthy and long life.
Thank you very much
Issued by: Department of Health
30 September 2007
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
