Date: 08/04/2005
Source: Ministry of Health
Title: Madlala-Routledge: Health Dept Budget Vote 2005/2006
Budget Speech by Deputy Minister of Health Mrs Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, National Assembly
Honourable Speaker,
Members
This year we mark 50 years of the Freedom Charter. We celebrate and honour those who stood up and took action for our freedom. The Charter was an initiative by a people determined to take charge of their destiny.
As I rise to address this house on the occasion of our budget vote of 2005, I would like to pose a challenge to all of us to emulate the sterling example of the masses that gathered in Kliptown in 1955. Each one of us, Madam Speaker, has the power and responsibility to take action for our health.
I remember a very special person and a self - starter, who chose to stand up and gave her life for our freedom. Victoria Mxenge was brutally murdered twenty years ago. Although she was more widely known as a human rights lawyer, she began her professional life as a nurse.
In her life, Victoria Mxenge realised that issues of health could not be addressed separately from issues of human rights. Thus, she stood up and took action for the freedom of the African people! In honouring her memory I call on all South Africans from all walks of life, to take the matter of their health into their own hands! Know your status and carry yourself with pride and dignity!
Another stalwart, Ray Alexander, who could have chosen the glamour and glitter of white privilege of those years, gave all her life and strength for the values of the Freedom Charter. She too, chose to take action and identified with the personal suffering and oppression of the majority of the people of this country. Shouldn’t we then, Madam Speaker, be proactive as well and follow the steps of these gallant activists about the issues that affect our own health and that of our children?
Madam Speaker, we begin this financial year with much hope and energy in our department. I hope that the excellent team that burnt the midnight oil in the past year will carry on the message of personal responsibility and action.
We also wish to welcome the appointment of our new Director General, Thami Mseleku and our HIV and AIDS head, Dr Nomonde Xundu. Both of them bring skills and experience to these key positions.
This team and I will provide the support the Minister of Health needs to further transform the health system so as to achieve the goals of the Freedom Charter and our Constitution.
Yesterday, we celebrated World Health Day, whose theme: “making every mother and child count”, captured the values of our constitution. To accentuate the spirit of this important theme, we will move to strengthen programmes to reduce teenage pregnancies and the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Making every mother and child count, means taking action and working in partnership to strengthen families. In last year’s budget debate I spoke about mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, stress and suicide. The South African Youth Behaviour Risk Survey found that suicide is common among young people, with almost half of the cases in the 20 to 34 year age group. We will be working with our communities to teach them how to identify and prevent mental illness.
The Youth Madam Speaker, must rise to the occasion and take action to mobilise and forge partnerships with government and business to reverse this worrying trend. We have created youth friendly centres and by the end of 2004/05 had accredited 3 369 healthcare centres for voluntary counselling and testing, mainly at primary health care level. Whether its mental illness, diabetes, heart disease or HIV, it is best to know your status and to get appropriate treatment on time. We call on our people to use these facilities that we have provided.
Madam Speaker, we have also observed a rise in family killings. This involves men killing their spouses, sometimes also their children and themselves. This rise in family killings has been linked to many issues, including poverty, gender inequality, alcohol and substance abuse, depression and anxiety, social violence, HIV and post traumatic stress disorder.
Again Madam Speaker, these social ills and anomalies often arise in circumstances of socio-economic deprivation and power inequality. They arise out of a lack of involvement of people in initiatives aimed at improving the conditions of their lives.
We must co-operate as government, business and civil society to support all efforts aimed at decreasing levels of ill health. Government continues to invest in programmes to fight poverty, unemployment and disease, which should contribute to reducing some of the major causes of stress and depression.
In addition to people taking responsibility for their own lives, the key priorities for this year, Madam Speaker, include the strengthening of the integration of mental health services into primary health care, closest to where the people are. We will campaign to de-stigmatise mental illness and strengthen mental health programmes for children and adolescents. We will be upgrading psychiatric facilities and developing norms and standards for in-patient and community services.
We realise Madam Speaker that there is a link between the use of violence and the proliferation of guns. We therefore welcome the national effort to reduce the number of guns in circulation in our country. Violence is also fuelled by alcohol and substance abuse.
I am pleased to announce that we will be working closely with the department of social development to seek an integrated approach to these problems. We also aim to finalise the regulations on the labelling of alcoholic beverages in an effort to reduce alcohol abuse.
I now wish to turn to the serious problem of obesity. The World Health Organisation recognises obesity as a global epidemic. More than 1,5 billion people worldwide are overweight. In South Africa, 29% of men and 57% of women are overweight. In Africa obesity has become a major cause of illness, existing side by side with malnutrition.
The problem is exacerbated by the strong link between obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diseases of lifestyle. This puts immense pressure on our health system, yet many of these diseases can be prevented. We are looking at a ticking time bomb of chronic diseases.
Obesity has psychological implications that make overweight individuals prey to false claims about quick weight loss products. These products are widely marketed as fat trappers, fat burners or starch blockers, with personal testimonials that do not accurately reflect the actual experience of users or any basis in scientific evidence.
The department has resolved to alert the consumers to these dubious products assist consumers with appropriate weight loss and dietary advice and pass legislation preventing the marketing of unsubstantiated weight loss products.
The only effective and scientific method of weight loss is a calorie restricted diet and adequate exercise. Our focus in promoting healthy lifestyles aims at prevention of such diseases as hypertension and obesity. As I said in my budget speech last year, I will work with members of parliament to mobilise our communities to adopt healthy lifestyles.
In this regard, I am in negotiations with the Sports Science Institute of South Africa to develop a programme for MPs and the public service. On Monday, I will myself undergo a fitness assessment with the Sports Science Institute. This is all in the spirit of taking action and responsibility for our healthy lifestyles!
Madam Speaker, most chronic illnesses can be managed and prevented at our clinics and the major focus now must be on prevention and identifying people at risk of developing these diseases. In doing this, long term care for chronic illnesses and diseases should get the same attention as acute and curative care.
We are developing partnerships in the effort to strengthen our overall chronic care programme and improve quality of care, access and equity.
We remain steadfast in our resolve to reduce the cost of healthcare. In this regard we will this year focus on health technology.
Health technology includes medical devices that health providers use, ranging from thermometers to complex machines such as those used in heart transplants. These devices are costly to both purchase and maintain. The health system needs to ensure that health facilities and providers have the necessary equipment, training and skill for the effective and efficient use of health technology and its maintenance.
The department will publish regulations that provide for the licensing and registration of medical equipment and service providers. The regulations will provide for the selection of appropriate technology by both the private and public sectors to ensure equity in distribution, affordability and sustainability, as well as cover the competencies needed for safe and proper utilisation of equipment.
We are looking also at how to support our local medical device industry. South Africa has a high potential to manufacture medical equipment. Yet the value of our imports is 10 times higher than our exports. We believe that promoting our local industry would help reduce the cost and ensure we get appropriate technologies to use in our system and bring these closest to where the people are who need them most.
Madame Speaker. We often don’t think of oral health – that is until we have a toothache. However, oral health is more than just taking care of our teeth.
The health status of our mouths often reflects our general health. One of the manifestations of AIDS is oral thrush, a fungal infection that often occurs when the immune system has been weakened.
The department has initiated a range of programmes to promote oral health. Five provinces have developed their operational oral health strategies, to strengthen oral health services. We are in the process of finalising a national oral health promotion framework as well as a manual on oral health for community and home-based care. I wish to give prior notice that this year we will launch national oral health care month on the 3rd of August. I look forward to the participation of all in this important campaign.
Madame Speaker, honourable members. I have two young sons. Like all parents, I wish to see my children grow and lead full and healthy lives. I wish to see their children and their children’s children. For the sake of all our children, I invite every single one of you to join my call to action. Together and through care, compassion and determination we can improve the health of our nation!
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Health
8 April 2005
Source: Ministry of Health
Title: Madlala-Routledge: Health Dept Budget Vote 2005/2006
Budget Speech by Deputy Minister of Health Mrs Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, National Assembly
Honourable Speaker,
Members
This year we mark 50 years of the Freedom Charter. We celebrate and honour those who stood up and took action for our freedom. The Charter was an initiative by a people determined to take charge of their destiny.
As I rise to address this house on the occasion of our budget vote of 2005, I would like to pose a challenge to all of us to emulate the sterling example of the masses that gathered in Kliptown in 1955. Each one of us, Madam Speaker, has the power and responsibility to take action for our health.
I remember a very special person and a self - starter, who chose to stand up and gave her life for our freedom. Victoria Mxenge was brutally murdered twenty years ago. Although she was more widely known as a human rights lawyer, she began her professional life as a nurse.
In her life, Victoria Mxenge realised that issues of health could not be addressed separately from issues of human rights. Thus, she stood up and took action for the freedom of the African people! In honouring her memory I call on all South Africans from all walks of life, to take the matter of their health into their own hands! Know your status and carry yourself with pride and dignity!
Another stalwart, Ray Alexander, who could have chosen the glamour and glitter of white privilege of those years, gave all her life and strength for the values of the Freedom Charter. She too, chose to take action and identified with the personal suffering and oppression of the majority of the people of this country. Shouldn’t we then, Madam Speaker, be proactive as well and follow the steps of these gallant activists about the issues that affect our own health and that of our children?
Madam Speaker, we begin this financial year with much hope and energy in our department. I hope that the excellent team that burnt the midnight oil in the past year will carry on the message of personal responsibility and action.
We also wish to welcome the appointment of our new Director General, Thami Mseleku and our HIV and AIDS head, Dr Nomonde Xundu. Both of them bring skills and experience to these key positions.
This team and I will provide the support the Minister of Health needs to further transform the health system so as to achieve the goals of the Freedom Charter and our Constitution.
Yesterday, we celebrated World Health Day, whose theme: “making every mother and child count”, captured the values of our constitution. To accentuate the spirit of this important theme, we will move to strengthen programmes to reduce teenage pregnancies and the transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Making every mother and child count, means taking action and working in partnership to strengthen families. In last year’s budget debate I spoke about mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, stress and suicide. The South African Youth Behaviour Risk Survey found that suicide is common among young people, with almost half of the cases in the 20 to 34 year age group. We will be working with our communities to teach them how to identify and prevent mental illness.
The Youth Madam Speaker, must rise to the occasion and take action to mobilise and forge partnerships with government and business to reverse this worrying trend. We have created youth friendly centres and by the end of 2004/05 had accredited 3 369 healthcare centres for voluntary counselling and testing, mainly at primary health care level. Whether its mental illness, diabetes, heart disease or HIV, it is best to know your status and to get appropriate treatment on time. We call on our people to use these facilities that we have provided.
Madam Speaker, we have also observed a rise in family killings. This involves men killing their spouses, sometimes also their children and themselves. This rise in family killings has been linked to many issues, including poverty, gender inequality, alcohol and substance abuse, depression and anxiety, social violence, HIV and post traumatic stress disorder.
Again Madam Speaker, these social ills and anomalies often arise in circumstances of socio-economic deprivation and power inequality. They arise out of a lack of involvement of people in initiatives aimed at improving the conditions of their lives.
We must co-operate as government, business and civil society to support all efforts aimed at decreasing levels of ill health. Government continues to invest in programmes to fight poverty, unemployment and disease, which should contribute to reducing some of the major causes of stress and depression.
In addition to people taking responsibility for their own lives, the key priorities for this year, Madam Speaker, include the strengthening of the integration of mental health services into primary health care, closest to where the people are. We will campaign to de-stigmatise mental illness and strengthen mental health programmes for children and adolescents. We will be upgrading psychiatric facilities and developing norms and standards for in-patient and community services.
We realise Madam Speaker that there is a link between the use of violence and the proliferation of guns. We therefore welcome the national effort to reduce the number of guns in circulation in our country. Violence is also fuelled by alcohol and substance abuse.
I am pleased to announce that we will be working closely with the department of social development to seek an integrated approach to these problems. We also aim to finalise the regulations on the labelling of alcoholic beverages in an effort to reduce alcohol abuse.
I now wish to turn to the serious problem of obesity. The World Health Organisation recognises obesity as a global epidemic. More than 1,5 billion people worldwide are overweight. In South Africa, 29% of men and 57% of women are overweight. In Africa obesity has become a major cause of illness, existing side by side with malnutrition.
The problem is exacerbated by the strong link between obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diseases of lifestyle. This puts immense pressure on our health system, yet many of these diseases can be prevented. We are looking at a ticking time bomb of chronic diseases.
Obesity has psychological implications that make overweight individuals prey to false claims about quick weight loss products. These products are widely marketed as fat trappers, fat burners or starch blockers, with personal testimonials that do not accurately reflect the actual experience of users or any basis in scientific evidence.
The department has resolved to alert the consumers to these dubious products assist consumers with appropriate weight loss and dietary advice and pass legislation preventing the marketing of unsubstantiated weight loss products.
The only effective and scientific method of weight loss is a calorie restricted diet and adequate exercise. Our focus in promoting healthy lifestyles aims at prevention of such diseases as hypertension and obesity. As I said in my budget speech last year, I will work with members of parliament to mobilise our communities to adopt healthy lifestyles.
In this regard, I am in negotiations with the Sports Science Institute of South Africa to develop a programme for MPs and the public service. On Monday, I will myself undergo a fitness assessment with the Sports Science Institute. This is all in the spirit of taking action and responsibility for our healthy lifestyles!
Madam Speaker, most chronic illnesses can be managed and prevented at our clinics and the major focus now must be on prevention and identifying people at risk of developing these diseases. In doing this, long term care for chronic illnesses and diseases should get the same attention as acute and curative care.
We are developing partnerships in the effort to strengthen our overall chronic care programme and improve quality of care, access and equity.
We remain steadfast in our resolve to reduce the cost of healthcare. In this regard we will this year focus on health technology.
Health technology includes medical devices that health providers use, ranging from thermometers to complex machines such as those used in heart transplants. These devices are costly to both purchase and maintain. The health system needs to ensure that health facilities and providers have the necessary equipment, training and skill for the effective and efficient use of health technology and its maintenance.
The department will publish regulations that provide for the licensing and registration of medical equipment and service providers. The regulations will provide for the selection of appropriate technology by both the private and public sectors to ensure equity in distribution, affordability and sustainability, as well as cover the competencies needed for safe and proper utilisation of equipment.
We are looking also at how to support our local medical device industry. South Africa has a high potential to manufacture medical equipment. Yet the value of our imports is 10 times higher than our exports. We believe that promoting our local industry would help reduce the cost and ensure we get appropriate technologies to use in our system and bring these closest to where the people are who need them most.
Madame Speaker. We often don’t think of oral health – that is until we have a toothache. However, oral health is more than just taking care of our teeth.
The health status of our mouths often reflects our general health. One of the manifestations of AIDS is oral thrush, a fungal infection that often occurs when the immune system has been weakened.
The department has initiated a range of programmes to promote oral health. Five provinces have developed their operational oral health strategies, to strengthen oral health services. We are in the process of finalising a national oral health promotion framework as well as a manual on oral health for community and home-based care. I wish to give prior notice that this year we will launch national oral health care month on the 3rd of August. I look forward to the participation of all in this important campaign.
Madame Speaker, honourable members. I have two young sons. Like all parents, I wish to see my children grow and lead full and healthy lives. I wish to see their children and their children’s children. For the sake of all our children, I invite every single one of you to join my call to action. Together and through care, compassion and determination we can improve the health of our nation!
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Health
8 April 2005
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