Speech by the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang at the launch of the STIs and Condom Awareness Week, Kroonstad, Free State

Programme director
Premier of the Free State province, Beatrice Marshoff
MEC for Health in the Free State
Mayor of Fezile Dabi District Municipality
Mayor of Moqhaka Municipality
Members of the Provincial Legislature present here today
Councillors
Representatives from the South African National Aids Council (SANAC), and Provincial Council on AIDS
Ladies and gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here in the Free State, under the Fezile Dabi Municipality to launch the Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and Condom Awareness week, 2008. As most of you would know, this campaign is an annual programme of the Department of Health and its provincial counterparts calling upon all South Africans to rededicate themselves in the fight against Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV.

As we gather here today under the theme "Your Sexual Health is your Responsibility", let us remind ourselves as South Africans about our roles and responsibilities in the fight against STIs. This theme programme director encourages us as individuals to demonstrate responsible sexual behaviour towards ourselves and our partners. Equally important programme director, this theme also links with the Zithande Campaign that enhances people's self-worth regardless of their HIV status. When taken together, these themes are indicative of the clarity and simplicity of government communication in our quest to change behaviour. On its own the theme "Your Sexual Health is your Responsibility" places the responsibility for our sexual health squarely in our hands.

As government and Department of Health, we have consistently called upon all South Africans to take responsibility for their sexual behaviour through our ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise) messages. The reason for this has to do with the reality that no government throughout the world can ever exercise total control over its citizens' sexuality and their sexual conduct. The responsibility of governments throughout the world is to provide infrastructure and resources for people to access healthcare, and secondly to continuously educate and inform citizens about the dangers and outcomes of irresponsible and reckless sexual behaviour. Once more, I am here today to appeal to you and in fact all the people of South Africa to take responsibility for our sexual health.

Programme director, ladies and gentlemen, what does taking responsibility for ones sexual health actually mean? To our young people, what this theme means among others is that you should delay your sexual debut for as long as it is possible. Consistently, programme director, as the Department of Health, we have called upon all our young people to delay getting involved in sexual activities and instead concentrate on education and other healthy lifestyles and health-enhancing activities such as sports. The consequences of pre-mature sexual encounter are well known, and these range from a simple loss of one's dignity as a proud young person to sexually transmitted infections and pre-mature pregnancies which may be accompanied by serious complications.

To the adults, what this theme means is being faithful to our partners including husbands and wives. This theme calls on us to focus and concentrate on those that we have declared our undying love to and avoid getting hooked to additional partners. It is a well-known fact that sexually transmitted infections are largely spread by promiscuity and greed, something we should be able to have control over.

Lastly, programme director, what this theme means is that where we cannot abstain and remain faithful to the ones we love, we should always remember the power of a condom in saving lives. In line with our strategy of A-B-C, this theme is a reminder to all of us to use condoms as part of taking responsibility for our sexual health.

Programme director, ladies and gentlemen, in the context of February being designated as the Reproductive Health Month, allow me to mention and place an emphasis on a few important issues. As a society we are still faced with the challenge of ignorance and indifference as far as pregnancy amongst others is concerned. We are continuously faced with the challenge of mothers who still indulge in reckless acts of alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking despite our appeal not to engage in such acts. Allow me therefore to call upon all expectant mothers in particular to try and avoid these practices given the severe dangers to an unborn baby presented by these products.

Programme director, I now wish to address myself to the critical subject of STIs and condom use and the importance of this campaign in raising awareness around them. In doing this, allow me to outline the key objectives of this campaign as a way of providing a context. This campaign programme director, ladies and gentlemen is primarily aimed at the following:

* increase public knowledge and awareness about the symptoms and management of all STIs
* increase access to treatment of STIs and the adherence to prescribed medication
* reinforcement of consistent and correct use of condoms
* encouragement of partner notification, and
* support for healthcare workers in their management of people with STIs.

As most of you would know, sexually transmitted infections still remain our biggest challenge in as far as managing other problems-related problems is concerned. The first biggest challenge around STIs has to do with the veil of secrecy around them. Quite often, when people have become infected with one or more such the tendency is to keep quite hoping that with time the infection will simply fade away or disappear. The reality of the matter is that such infections need treatment by a professional health care worker such a nurse. If left untreated, such infections have a tendency of escalating into even more complicated health problems with serious long-term consequences such as inability to conceive and vulnerability to HIV infection for instance. It is for this reason that as the Department of Health, nationally and provincially, please be on the look out for unusual signs such as discharges and smells so that you are able to immediately bring such anomalies to the attention of your healthcare worker.

The second issue I wish to address myself to have to do with access to treatment and adherence to prescribed medication. I have already touched briefly on the importance of being vigilant when it comes to our sexual health as individuals and the importance of presenting ourselves to health facilities once we suspect something could be wrong. As you may be aware, one of the programmes that we are aggressively pushing as the department is that aimed at ensuring access to healthcare through building and capacitating primary healthcare facilities such as clinics among others. This is based on our conviction that without such facilities in place, it becomes difficult and almost impossible to encourage people to take action when their health including sexual health is in danger. Of equal importance, programme director is our move to continuously train and develop our nurses on matters of handling patients especially those presenting with symptoms of sexually transmitted infections. We are continuously training them to be able to identify such symptoms so that valuable time is not wasted which could result in complications for the patient.

Another critical element in caring for and curing sexually transmitted infections is related to the patient's attitude. We know it happens most of the time that a patient would fail to complete their treatment simply because they think or feel that they are better. This, I must say relates not only to medication for sexually transmitted infections but other illnesses as well. Let me; however, state categorically that this is wrong. The treatment course that your nurse at the clinic gives you is mixed and calculated in a particular manner and for a particular reason. My appeal is that you make sure that you complete that treatment course because untreated STIs have a habit of striking back.

Of equal importance programme director, ladies and gentlemen is ensuring that your partner also completes his or her treatment to avoid later co-infections.
Programme director; ladies and gentlemen allow me to talk on another element in our fight against sexually transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS. Most of you are aware by now that condoms and condom use have become the backbone of our prevention of sexually transmitted infections. We have over the years continued to increase our condom brand as part of ensuring access to essential prevention requirements. This distribution has increased from 120 million pieces of condoms per year in 1997 to 325 million condoms in 2007. Yes, we have had a challenge or two recently with regard to quality issues but once this was brought to our attention we, jointly with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and the South African Police Service (SAPS), acted on the matter.

Among the things that we did was the recall and destroying of all the condoms that were found to have been illegally certificated. Furthermore, we went on to subject all of our condoms to a rigorous test including those that were not suspected of having been compromised. We are proud to declare today that this matter has since been laid to rest. We, jointly with the SABS continue to be vigilant on issues of manufacturing and certification process to ensure that we do not experience the repeat of the incident I have just talked about, where some individual or individuals based on greed decided to put their commercial interests ahead of the interests of millions of South Africa.

In terms of the condom use, we are continuing with our education and awareness communication to ensure that people are educated on how to use the condoms.
Although I have briefly talked on it in passing, I wish to address myself to the importance of openness in relation to partner notification. The word STI itself essentially suggest that these are diseases brought about by sexual encounter between two people. It becomes crucial therefore that once the one partner realises that something is wrong, through unusual discharge of fluids, smells and swelling amongst others, it becomes important that the spouse or another partner is immediately informed so that treatment becomes a joint responsibility.

Quite often though, what happens is that the one partner, upon suspecting that something is wrong, decides to keep quite and privately go to a healthcare facility or traditional healer to seek treatment with the hope that everything will be fine. As the Department of Health however, our message is clear, the treatment of sexually transmitted infections is a joint responsibility. Even in cases where as a partner you have not picked up any signs or symptoms of infection you still have a duty and responsibility to present to your health care facility so that the chances of further infections are eliminated.

In concluding on the objectives of this campaign programme director, I wish to address the issue of support for our healthcare workers in their management of patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections. We are aware that there are still challenges around area of being sensitive to such patients and ensuring that they, like other patients are treated with dignity and respect. It is within this context that I talked earlier on in my speech about the ongoing training of our nurses so that they relate to such patients in a correct manner. In launching this campaign, I wish to appeal to all our nurses throughout the country, in every clinic to please treat our patients with dignity and respect. If we are to launch a successful fight sexually transmitted infections including HIV, we have to change the way in which we treat our patients including tackling the challenge of stigma.

In conclusion, programme director, I wish to call upon the youth of our country to treat sex and sexuality with respect. As Minister of Health, who is a mother and grandmother, it pains me to see our young people becoming victims of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS. My message to you is to please delay your sex debut for as long as it is possible, preferably until you have finished your studies and identified your lifetime partner. In the meantime, focus on those healthy lifestyle activities such as sports and volunteering your time and skills to those less fortunate around you, including old-age homes and orphanages. It is only through such attitudes that indeed you can create a kind of society that future generations will be proud of.

Programme director, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Department of Health and government in general, allow me to officially launch the 2008 STI and Condom Awareness Week. Let's take responsibility for our sexual health.

ZITHANDE!!!

Thank you very much.

Issued by: Department of Health
10 February 2008