Date: 18/03/2003
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Skweyiya: Seminar on economic impact of HIV/AIDS
SPEECH TO BE DELIVERED AT THE SEMINAR ON ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS BY THE MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, DR ZOLA SKWEYIYA, HSRC Building, 18 March 2003
Chairperson,
Ladies and gentlemen
It is appropriate and necessary to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS transparently and courageously. It is appropriate for a seminar of this nature to interrogate the challenges and develop suggestions and recommendations that, we hope, will be usable.
South Africa is burdened with one of the fastest growth rates of HIV infections in the world. The implications of this are far reaching. The impact is being felt by millions of individuals and households. Large and small businesses, civil society organisations and government are all experiencing the trauma of AIDS in some way. No sector of society or the economy will remain untouched or unaffected by the epidemic.
The traditional methods of provision of health and other services are unable to meet the demands imposed by HIV infection and by illness and death from AIDS related sicknesses. An epidemic such as HIV/AIDS necessitates a new way of looking at the role of a government department in supplying services. The epidemic requires new vision, new ideas and new policy development in order to face the multiple socio-economic challenges that have arisen.
Let us think about some of these challenges:
* There will be huge burdens on national, provincial and local government in order to provide adequate services to the infected and affected.
* The impact of the epidemic on private enterprise will be massive. Productivity will be affected as personnel fall ill, stay absent or die.
* Medical aid schemes will experience declining margins and pass on their costs to members.
Economically, dependency will increase. The economically (and sexually) active 15 to 65 age group is the most vulnerable to infection. A decline in this economically active population will mean that many children and older persons will become more vulnerable, firstly to a decline and ultimately, probably to, a total loss of household income. Special medical treatment, nutrition and the inevitable funeral costs constitute major financial burdens of household budgets. This combination of burdens will result in declining living standards and quality of life for all surviving members of households.
Family structures will be deeply affected. The people who are now succumbing to the disease are the parents and leaders in society. This means that a generation of children will grow up without the care and the role models they would normally have had.
Household members with AIDS who need special care and treatment place an enormous extra burden on women, who traditionally take responsibility for the care of family members and children. As single parents, or as widowed heads of households, women will bear the brunt of the epidemic. They will also be even more exposed to infection.
There will be an increase in the numbers of orphans and child headed households. South Africa already has a high incidence of children who are not cared for continuously by either parent. For many children, grandmothers, aunts or other relatives are now their principal carers. The epidemic is impacting on an already fragile family environment and one of its worst consequences is the creation of AIDS orphans and child-headed households.
The Department of Social Development has however positioned itself to address some of the above-mentioned developmental impacts of the epidemic.
The Child Support Grant (CSG) of R160 per month will be extended over the next three financial years to children up to the age of 14 years. Mechanisms have been put in place to identify more of the vulnerable children who are eligible for the CSG.
The Old Age Grant has just been increased from R640 to R700 per month, a small but important addition to the budgets of older persons, many with large numbers of dependants.
The department has a home and community based care programme. The rapid appraisal of HCBC projects that was undertaken by my department identified 466 projects, most of which are funded by conditional grants to provinces. These programmes service people living with AIDS by providing care and support.
In addition to the national poverty relief programme, the food security project is an activity that is targeting the poorest of the poor. A total amount of R230 million is being spent to provide food for this group. Vulnerable households are receiving food parcels over a three-moth period. Agricultural starter packs are being provided to enable poor households to produce their own food. Income-generating activities are being supported.
The School Nutrition Programme is being intensified to ensure a reduction in the numbers of hungry children. An intense registration campaign for social grants is also under way. Finally, community access to nutritious food strengthened by vitamins and minerals is being facilitated.
In our effort to make services more accessible to communities, the department is in the process of forming partnerships with a variety of organisations and structures, including research organisations. A vital strategy for the achievement of departmental goals is through research undertaken by people such as yourselves.
The purpose of this seminar is to create awareness of research that is being conducted. It is also to strengthen partnerships between provincial and national officials and donor agencies. Perhaps most importantly, it is to enhance the capacity of government at national and provincial level, to translate research findings and recommendations into action.
I expect the seminar to create a platform for the department to express its research needs and priorities that could be incorporated in the Joint Centre's research activities. The Department pledges its full support and commitment to these scientific endeavours, aimed at addressing the desperation that prevails in our communities. It is essential that academic researchers are accountable to both this audience and to the communities where their research takes place.
May I also take this opportunity to highlight the launch, in the coming weeks, of fourteen HIV/AIDS good practice case studies that were completed last year. It is hoped that these will contribute to our understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS and facilitate our interventions. The sample for these studies was selected from a range of services, including care, prevention and training intervention strategies. It has become apparent from the case studies that there is no single solution to the problem, but that as a nation we need to look at holistic and integrated approaches.
Finally I would like to thank the international donors on behalf of the department that made this research possible namely USAID, AusAID, and DIFD. We recognise and appreciate your contribution to our struggle against HIV/AIDS, not as a South African issue, but as a challenge facing the whole of humanity.
I thank you.
Ministry of Social Development
18 March 2003
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Skweyiya: Seminar on economic impact of HIV/AIDS
SPEECH TO BE DELIVERED AT THE SEMINAR ON ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS BY THE MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, DR ZOLA SKWEYIYA, HSRC Building, 18 March 2003
Chairperson,
Ladies and gentlemen
It is appropriate and necessary to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS transparently and courageously. It is appropriate for a seminar of this nature to interrogate the challenges and develop suggestions and recommendations that, we hope, will be usable.
South Africa is burdened with one of the fastest growth rates of HIV infections in the world. The implications of this are far reaching. The impact is being felt by millions of individuals and households. Large and small businesses, civil society organisations and government are all experiencing the trauma of AIDS in some way. No sector of society or the economy will remain untouched or unaffected by the epidemic.
The traditional methods of provision of health and other services are unable to meet the demands imposed by HIV infection and by illness and death from AIDS related sicknesses. An epidemic such as HIV/AIDS necessitates a new way of looking at the role of a government department in supplying services. The epidemic requires new vision, new ideas and new policy development in order to face the multiple socio-economic challenges that have arisen.
Let us think about some of these challenges:
* There will be huge burdens on national, provincial and local government in order to provide adequate services to the infected and affected.
* The impact of the epidemic on private enterprise will be massive. Productivity will be affected as personnel fall ill, stay absent or die.
* Medical aid schemes will experience declining margins and pass on their costs to members.
Economically, dependency will increase. The economically (and sexually) active 15 to 65 age group is the most vulnerable to infection. A decline in this economically active population will mean that many children and older persons will become more vulnerable, firstly to a decline and ultimately, probably to, a total loss of household income. Special medical treatment, nutrition and the inevitable funeral costs constitute major financial burdens of household budgets. This combination of burdens will result in declining living standards and quality of life for all surviving members of households.
Family structures will be deeply affected. The people who are now succumbing to the disease are the parents and leaders in society. This means that a generation of children will grow up without the care and the role models they would normally have had.
Household members with AIDS who need special care and treatment place an enormous extra burden on women, who traditionally take responsibility for the care of family members and children. As single parents, or as widowed heads of households, women will bear the brunt of the epidemic. They will also be even more exposed to infection.
There will be an increase in the numbers of orphans and child headed households. South Africa already has a high incidence of children who are not cared for continuously by either parent. For many children, grandmothers, aunts or other relatives are now their principal carers. The epidemic is impacting on an already fragile family environment and one of its worst consequences is the creation of AIDS orphans and child-headed households.
The Department of Social Development has however positioned itself to address some of the above-mentioned developmental impacts of the epidemic.
The Child Support Grant (CSG) of R160 per month will be extended over the next three financial years to children up to the age of 14 years. Mechanisms have been put in place to identify more of the vulnerable children who are eligible for the CSG.
The Old Age Grant has just been increased from R640 to R700 per month, a small but important addition to the budgets of older persons, many with large numbers of dependants.
The department has a home and community based care programme. The rapid appraisal of HCBC projects that was undertaken by my department identified 466 projects, most of which are funded by conditional grants to provinces. These programmes service people living with AIDS by providing care and support.
In addition to the national poverty relief programme, the food security project is an activity that is targeting the poorest of the poor. A total amount of R230 million is being spent to provide food for this group. Vulnerable households are receiving food parcels over a three-moth period. Agricultural starter packs are being provided to enable poor households to produce their own food. Income-generating activities are being supported.
The School Nutrition Programme is being intensified to ensure a reduction in the numbers of hungry children. An intense registration campaign for social grants is also under way. Finally, community access to nutritious food strengthened by vitamins and minerals is being facilitated.
In our effort to make services more accessible to communities, the department is in the process of forming partnerships with a variety of organisations and structures, including research organisations. A vital strategy for the achievement of departmental goals is through research undertaken by people such as yourselves.
The purpose of this seminar is to create awareness of research that is being conducted. It is also to strengthen partnerships between provincial and national officials and donor agencies. Perhaps most importantly, it is to enhance the capacity of government at national and provincial level, to translate research findings and recommendations into action.
I expect the seminar to create a platform for the department to express its research needs and priorities that could be incorporated in the Joint Centre's research activities. The Department pledges its full support and commitment to these scientific endeavours, aimed at addressing the desperation that prevails in our communities. It is essential that academic researchers are accountable to both this audience and to the communities where their research takes place.
May I also take this opportunity to highlight the launch, in the coming weeks, of fourteen HIV/AIDS good practice case studies that were completed last year. It is hoped that these will contribute to our understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS and facilitate our interventions. The sample for these studies was selected from a range of services, including care, prevention and training intervention strategies. It has become apparent from the case studies that there is no single solution to the problem, but that as a nation we need to look at holistic and integrated approaches.
Finally I would like to thank the international donors on behalf of the department that made this research possible namely USAID, AusAID, and DIFD. We recognise and appreciate your contribution to our struggle against HIV/AIDS, not as a South African issue, but as a challenge facing the whole of humanity.
I thank you.
Ministry of Social Development
18 March 2003
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