Date: 22/07/2003
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: National School Health Policy launch


ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF HEALTH, DR MANTO TSHABALALA-MSIMANG, ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, T J M Ntsime Secondary School, Mogwase, North West, 22 July 2003

The Acting Premier of North West, Mr Thibedi
The North West MEC for Health, Dr Sefularo;
The North West MEC for Education, Mr Tolo;
Kgosi Pilane;
The Mayor of Moses Kotana Municipality, Councillor Molelekeng;
The community leadership present;
The Church leaders present;
The community of Mogwase;
Learners present;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I wish to thank the community of Mogwase and indeed the province of North West for extending a warm welcome to us as we meet here today to launch the National School Health Policy and Guidelines.

Todays launch marks another gigantic step taken by the government to ensure that all of us have access to health care. To us as a Department of Health, entrusted with a task to ensure that all South Africans lead healthy and fulfilling lives and that they have access to health care, we feel that with this launch we are getting closer to fulfilling our mandate.

School health was but one, among many spheres, of health that suffered at the hands of apartheid. Under the apartheid regime, school health services were implemented in a racially skewed manner, resources were inequitably distributed and implementation differed from homeland to homeland and different racial groups. There was also the problem of lack of resources and infrastructure, especially in rural areas, which rendered the programme a failure.

With the new dispensation in 1994, school health was incorporated under the broad umbrella of primary health care. However, due to absence of a clear national policy and implementation guidelines, these services for school-going children deteriorated. As a result, in many instances, whatever school health services were rendered, were rendered in a fragmented and ad hoc manner.

We are gathered here today to reverse this trend. The policy we are launching today aims to give a framework and clear guidelines regarding school health services. Why are we prioritising school health? The Bill of Rights states that:

* Everyone has a right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being
* Everyone has a right to access health care services
* Everyone has a right to basic education

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states, among other things, that the state has an obligation to ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed and have access to knowledge of child health and nutrition, hygiene, environmental sanitation and prevention of accidents.

This Convention and our own Bill of Rights clearly obliges us as the Department of Health to formulate and implement a coherent school health programme. Failure to do this would be against the spirit of our democratic Constitution and inhuman.

Earlier on I mentioned that our Department is entrusted with the task of ensuring that all of our people, including school children, lead healthy and fulfilling lives and that they have access to health care services. About 12 million learners were enrolled in schools last year. This is more than a quarter of our country's population. Logic dictates, therefore, that we do all in our power to ensure that this very vital section of our population gets introduced to sound health practices.

Another advantage in implementing a coherent school health programme is that we are able to mould health conscious citizens at a very tender age. School-going age is an age where children are receptive to ideas since schools are environments where one expects to learn something new. If we implement a workable school health programme across the country, we are sure to reap of a bright future for the coming generations.

This comprehensive policy and implementation guidelines will also ensure that all our children, irrespective of race, colour and location will have equal access to school health services. The major spin-off of this programme is that government will spend less and less on health in future because we shall have raised a generation of health-conscious adults. We are literally investing in our future.

Before this policy was adopted, our officials held a series of workshops with our provincial partners to ensure that we all understand what the policy aims to achieve and how it would be implemented. Because the programme would be implemented at district level, it was important to bring on board our partners at that level.

The idea is that our primary health care nurses will implement this programme because of their close proximity to our communities. In areas where school health nurses exist, they will continue with the job but ideally under the auspices of the local primary health care clinic. Our aim is to integrate the school health services within the primary health care package.

After this launch, our officials will go to all the provinces, especially those that never had a school health programme, to embark on a major training campaign of those who will ultimately train the nurses to do the job. These nurses will be trained among other things to

* give health education to children
* impart life skills to learners, teachers, parents and the entire school community
* screening of children especially, at Grade R and Grade 1 for specific health problems, and at puberty stage as children undergo physiological changes
* detecting disabilities at an early age so that learners can get help as well as
* picking up any missed opportunities for immunisation and other interventions

There are many health needs of children at school. These include:

* Visual and hearing disorders that are common barriers to learning
* Skin problems are very common especially in rural areas and informal settlements, where there is lack of clean water supply and sanitation
* Parasitic infections commonly known as helminthic diseases
* Reproductive health and Sexually Transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS
* Violence prevention and support for survivors of abuse
* Dental problems that are common in school children.

We believe that the cost of the programme will be relatively low, at least R3,47 per secondary pupil per year. The only group that requires little more investment is children at Grade R or Grade 1 where we envisage spending between R26 to R33 per child per year. The assumption is that as learners progress to senior grades, it will become cheaper to render them with school health services for they shall have received intensive care at entry level.

The programme will be implemented in phases. We hope to cover 30% of districts in every province by the end of 2004 at an estimated cost of about R10 million. We hope to extend these services to 60% of the districts by 2005 and cover the whole country by the end of 2007.

Indeed, implementing this programme is going to be a mammoth task, a task that will not be accomplished by the Department of Health alone. We need other departments to actively participate in this programme. I am heartened by the fact that we have, in our midst, the MEC for Education and the Deputy Director-General of the national Department of Education. Our two departments are going to be at the forefront of the implementation of this programme. We promise, as the Department of Health, to work closely and constructively with the Department of Education to ensure that the school health programme is successfully implemented.

I want to also stress that this programme is not only a government programme. This is a programme that will benefit the whole population of South Africa. What children will learn from school health nurses, they will impart to their own families and help create a healthy nation. In essence, with this programme we are also grooming responsible citizens who will take care of not only their lives, but the lives of those around them.

Our theme for this programme is: "Healthy children are successful learners".

We have every faith that this programme marks the beginning of a new era for the health of our nation.

I thank you

Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)