Speech for Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang: World Heart Day, Ilembe District, KwaZulu-Natal

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