Date: 10/08/2006
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: Departmental Women’s Day Celebration During Women’s Month
Speech by the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang at the Departmental Women’s Day Celebration, Pretoria
Yesterday, 9 August, saw a multitude of women marching to the Union Buildings. This march was organised to remember all the courageous women who undertook an unprecedented march 50 years ago, to do away with the Dompass and all its attendant repressive and de-humanising laws once and for all.
These were brave women who took the risk of marching to Pretoria. They did so knowing very well that they could either be arrested, harassed or killed for challenging the Apartheid regime and claim their dignity and self respect. No wonder they came up with a very powerful slogan: “Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo uzokufa! (You strike a woman, you strike a rock, you will perish)”. I hope many of you were able to participate in the march yesterday, to celebrate our hard won gains.
We have organised this function to celebrate Women’s Day as the national Department of Health. Firstly we would like to use this occasion to honour the many women who keep this organisation functioning. Your contribution is appreciated.
I would also like to use this opportunity to draw your attention to what the department is doing to improve the health status of all women. I hope that after this session you will be come the ambassadors of the department and explain to your communities about our programmes and policy interventions to improve the lives of people.
This year’s August celebrations are running under the theme: “Age of hope: through struggle to freedom”. This theme, although encouraging, clearly indicates that there are still many battles to be won before we can achieve full emancipation of women and gender equality in all spheres of our lives.
The many battles to be fought include the persisting unemployment, poverty, diseases and poor health, deliberate and calculated violence against women and children, and the difficult circumstances of orphans to mention a few. Despite these challenges, our Government can certainly take pride in the tremendous efforts that have been made to improve the status of women. Government has passed several pieces of legislation to support a wide range of initiatives in the quest for gender equality and equity.
We continue to provide free primary health care to all and free health care to pregnant women and children less than six years. The provision of these services is now a legal requirement enshrined in the National Health Act. The issue of fees for services is a gender issue as many women still live in conditions of poverty and are therefore, unable to pay for basic health services.
The Department of Health has made efforts to ensure that health services respond to the needs of women, including making reproductive health services available and accessible to all women in the country.
The proportion of births that were attended to by either a nurse or doctor has increased from 84% in 1998 to 92% in 2003. The main factors impacting on maternal deaths as well as infant and child mortality are being addressed. We are intensifying the implementation of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and School Health Services to improve the health of our children.
More than 77% of our health facilities were providing services to reduce the risk of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV by the end of last year and these services are being expanded to other facilities. We have made strides in extending family planning and other services that empower women. The effects of contraceptives on unwanted pregnancy cannot be underestimated. Hence the Department has developed contraceptive service delivery guidelines.
The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act enables women to obtain termination of pregnancy services at public health facilities. While this is a reproductive health concern, it is also a gender issue. Women are sometimes not in a position to prevent unwanted pregnancy, because of inequality in sexual relationships.
We continue to empower women to prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria. We are encouraging women to lead healthy lifestyles and undergo health screening to reduce the risk of acquiring non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Efforts are also being made to protect women from violence and comprehensive services for care of survivors of sexual violence are being expanded.
The Department of Health is also providing services for screening of breast and cervical cancer which affects many women. We should ensure that we use these services to prevent serious health damage and deaths caused by these diseases. More than 3,9 million households receive free basic water and free basic electricity reaches 2,9 million households. These are programmes that are making a real difference to the daily lives of women whose health would otherwise have been compromised because of no access to these basic services.
We have brought freedom to millions of women whose participation in the socio-economic activities have been limited by the daily tussles of fetching unsafe water from far away streams and collecting wood from distant forests. All these achievements are part of government’s efforts to alleviate poverty and improve the life and health status of women and the poor in general. The empowerment of vulnerable groups particularly women is critical in improving the quality of life of the general population.
Breaking the silence and raising the voice of women is a challenge that faces women in South Africa and in Africa as a whole. We all need to work together to bring the voices of women out in the open to be heard. We should be able to speak out against abuse, against gender discrimination and other social challenges that women encounters.
We should work together to increase the pace of substantive empowerment of women, particularly at service delivery level. There is still a lot of ground to be covered before we can confidently declare that we have achieved gender equality in country.
We have it in our power to improve the lives of all women of South Africa. Let us join hands in a people’s contract to fight poverty and create a better life for all.
Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo uzokufa nya, finish!
Thank you
Issued by: Department of Health
10 August 2006
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: Departmental Women’s Day Celebration During Women’s Month
Speech by the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang at the Departmental Women’s Day Celebration, Pretoria
Yesterday, 9 August, saw a multitude of women marching to the Union Buildings. This march was organised to remember all the courageous women who undertook an unprecedented march 50 years ago, to do away with the Dompass and all its attendant repressive and de-humanising laws once and for all.
These were brave women who took the risk of marching to Pretoria. They did so knowing very well that they could either be arrested, harassed or killed for challenging the Apartheid regime and claim their dignity and self respect. No wonder they came up with a very powerful slogan: “Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo uzokufa! (You strike a woman, you strike a rock, you will perish)”. I hope many of you were able to participate in the march yesterday, to celebrate our hard won gains.
We have organised this function to celebrate Women’s Day as the national Department of Health. Firstly we would like to use this occasion to honour the many women who keep this organisation functioning. Your contribution is appreciated.
I would also like to use this opportunity to draw your attention to what the department is doing to improve the health status of all women. I hope that after this session you will be come the ambassadors of the department and explain to your communities about our programmes and policy interventions to improve the lives of people.
This year’s August celebrations are running under the theme: “Age of hope: through struggle to freedom”. This theme, although encouraging, clearly indicates that there are still many battles to be won before we can achieve full emancipation of women and gender equality in all spheres of our lives.
The many battles to be fought include the persisting unemployment, poverty, diseases and poor health, deliberate and calculated violence against women and children, and the difficult circumstances of orphans to mention a few. Despite these challenges, our Government can certainly take pride in the tremendous efforts that have been made to improve the status of women. Government has passed several pieces of legislation to support a wide range of initiatives in the quest for gender equality and equity.
We continue to provide free primary health care to all and free health care to pregnant women and children less than six years. The provision of these services is now a legal requirement enshrined in the National Health Act. The issue of fees for services is a gender issue as many women still live in conditions of poverty and are therefore, unable to pay for basic health services.
The Department of Health has made efforts to ensure that health services respond to the needs of women, including making reproductive health services available and accessible to all women in the country.
The proportion of births that were attended to by either a nurse or doctor has increased from 84% in 1998 to 92% in 2003. The main factors impacting on maternal deaths as well as infant and child mortality are being addressed. We are intensifying the implementation of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and School Health Services to improve the health of our children.
More than 77% of our health facilities were providing services to reduce the risk of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV by the end of last year and these services are being expanded to other facilities. We have made strides in extending family planning and other services that empower women. The effects of contraceptives on unwanted pregnancy cannot be underestimated. Hence the Department has developed contraceptive service delivery guidelines.
The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act enables women to obtain termination of pregnancy services at public health facilities. While this is a reproductive health concern, it is also a gender issue. Women are sometimes not in a position to prevent unwanted pregnancy, because of inequality in sexual relationships.
We continue to empower women to prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria. We are encouraging women to lead healthy lifestyles and undergo health screening to reduce the risk of acquiring non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Efforts are also being made to protect women from violence and comprehensive services for care of survivors of sexual violence are being expanded.
The Department of Health is also providing services for screening of breast and cervical cancer which affects many women. We should ensure that we use these services to prevent serious health damage and deaths caused by these diseases. More than 3,9 million households receive free basic water and free basic electricity reaches 2,9 million households. These are programmes that are making a real difference to the daily lives of women whose health would otherwise have been compromised because of no access to these basic services.
We have brought freedom to millions of women whose participation in the socio-economic activities have been limited by the daily tussles of fetching unsafe water from far away streams and collecting wood from distant forests. All these achievements are part of government’s efforts to alleviate poverty and improve the life and health status of women and the poor in general. The empowerment of vulnerable groups particularly women is critical in improving the quality of life of the general population.
Breaking the silence and raising the voice of women is a challenge that faces women in South Africa and in Africa as a whole. We all need to work together to bring the voices of women out in the open to be heard. We should be able to speak out against abuse, against gender discrimination and other social challenges that women encounters.
We should work together to increase the pace of substantive empowerment of women, particularly at service delivery level. There is still a lot of ground to be covered before we can confidently declare that we have achieved gender equality in country.
We have it in our power to improve the lives of all women of South Africa. Let us join hands in a people’s contract to fight poverty and create a better life for all.
Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo uzokufa nya, finish!
Thank you
Issued by: Department of Health
10 August 2006
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