I am here as the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to officially open our third National Youth Health Indaba, as part of the Department of Health's objective to enrich the lives of young people of South Africa.

The country's theme to commemorate the June 16, 1976 Student Soweto Uprising is: "Entrenching Democracy: All Youth to the Polls" which is aimed at influencing the spirit of patriotism in young people.

As the Department of Health, we also align ourselves with this call with the theme for this National Youth Indaba being: "Entrenching Democracy: Exercise your Health Rights and Responsibilities."

The first National Youth Indaba was held in Mpumalanga in 2006. It coincided with the commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the June 16, 1976 Soweto students uprising.

From this first indaba arose the first declaration inclusive of several issues. One of these is that youth should participate in issues that concern them. The concept of volunteerism was strongly highlighted. It was also an opportunity for youth to be exposed to the various programmes and career paths that are available from government departments.

The second indaba, held in Northern Cape, aimed to evaluate the progress and impact that had been made since the first declaration. Out of the second indaba, the Department of Health piloted the peer education programme in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, which were launched by the Minister six month later.

Another achievement was that in KwaZulu-Natal, 500 ambassadors were identified as peer educators. From there, the programme has been rolled out in other provinces. Currently, processes are in place to rollout the programme to all nine provinces.

Subsequently, in January and February this year, officials from the National Department of Health and members of the Inter-departmental Committee, conducted follow-up visits to all the provinces in order to assess the impact that of the declaration.

The stronghold of the National Youth Indaba is the creation of the IDC whereby internal and external stakeholders collaborate on youth issues affecting the youth.

As a build-up to this Indaba, door-to-door campaign was conducted by the youth whereby 406 households were visited, to provide health information, educate and a total of 85 clients were refer to local health facilities for eye care.

I would like to extend a heartfelt gratitude to the youth of South Africa for heeding the call and giving of themselves to volunteer in a number of initiatives such as the youth friendly services, community involvement and development of Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials relevant to their needs.

I also like to thank KwaZulu-Natal for hosting the third National Youth Indaba 2008. We would not miss to mention the other government departments, private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for working tirelessly with young people.

Issued by: Department of Health
23 June 2008