Programme director
Minister of Communication
Provincial MECs for Health
Representatives of United Nations agencies
Representatives of our development partners
Senior officials from the Department of Health and other government departments
Representatives of the South African Post Office
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

This is indeed an historic occasion as this is the first occasion for the Department of Health (DoH) to launch a postage stamp.

Perhaps this is a first because of the renewed realisation of the importance of the Primary Healthcare approach. I am sure that we all know that 30 years ago this week public health leaders from many parts of the world gathered at what was then Alma Ata in the former Soviet Union, to debate primary healthcare and developed and adopted the Alma Ata Declaration on the Primary Healthcare (PHC) Approach.

As part of observing that moment in history, we took a decision to launch a postage stamp to commemorate that important day in the history of the health systems. This adds to what we have already done, namely our national conference on primary healthcare held earlier this year as well as our participation in the World Health Organisation (WHO) or African Regional Committee (AFRO) conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Our purpose is to build on the work that has been done in the past. We do this today fully conscious of the fact that the primary healthcare approach is central to improving the health of the people as reflected in the principles of the Alma Ata Declaration, as well as achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Programme director, I am indeed delighted to see the decision that cabinet took some months ago to issue a stamp to commemorate the Alma Ata Declaration coming to fruition today, and this clearly demonstrates that the success of this government depends on co-operation by all sectors as illustrated by preparations for this launch. I am greatly humbled by the co-operation that we got from the South African Post Office (SAPO), despite their very busy schedule. For them to have prioritised this stamp is indeed humbling to me. I wish to thank the Minister and Deputy Minister of Communication as well as the South African Post Office for their willingness to work with us to ensure that the stamp is designed and printed in time for launch this week. Ladies and gentlemen, the value of this day and the stamp itself will mean nothing, if they are not translated into improvements in the health of our people. The values of the PHC approach are key to strengthen our health system. These values include: equity, social solidarity, intersectoral collaboration, and community participation.

We have made gains in implementing the PHC approach in our country. We adopted the district health system as the institutional vehicle to deliver primary healthcare. We have 52 health districts with boundaries that are coterminous with municipal boundaries.

In 1994/05 we removed user fees for certain categories of our patients and in 1996 we expanded this to all our people who are not on medical aid. We developed a comprehensive package of PHC services with an essential drugs list. We have also been able to increase the budget for PHC services, up to the point where this year we are spending R300 per capita on average. I am also proud to point out that we have been able to decrease the inequities in funding amongst health districts.

The ratio between the highest and lowest expenditure per district has improved from 9,3 in 2001/02 to 3,3 in 2006/07. These initiatives to improve access to primary healthcare services as evidenced by the significant increase in PHC headcounts from 67 million in 1998/09 to 101 million in 2006/07 with the PHC utilisation rate increasing to 2,2 visits per person per year.

We are improving the social determinants of health as reflected in the decrease in number of new cases of diarrhoea. In 2005 for instance, the average number of new cases of diarrhoea per one thousand children under five was 258 and this figure dropped to 119 in 2006. Let me also take this opportunity to share with you that on Thursday this week I will be in Ukhahlamba district in the Eastern Cape to launch and introduce two new vaccines, pneumococcal conjugate and rotavirus vaccines as part of yet another intervention aimed at decreasing infant and child mortality from vaccine preventable causes.

Let me now turn to the stamp. As it can be seen on the picture on the stamp, we carefully chose this because of the strength of the message we want to send out to people. We chose a person exercising which is a key element in our healthy lifestyles programme.

Healthy lifestyle campaigns form the bedrock of the health messages that we want our people to internalise. Jogging, drinking water, eating fruits and vegetables are depicted on the stamp and are key to being healthy. This message is reflected in the way in which the definition of health is framed in the declaration.

I wish to quote directly from the declaration: "The conference strongly reaffirms that health, which is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, is a fundamental human right and that the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a most important world-wide social goal whose realisation requires the action of many other social and economic sectors in addition to the health sector."

As we meet here today, we need to heighten our collective commitment to achieve the objectives set out in the declaration and reaffirmed in the Birchwood Declaration and the Ouagadougou Declaration which were drafted after discussions at the meetings I referred to earlier. The stamp therefore should be used as one of our vehicles to spread this message to our people.

In conclusion, ladies and gentleman, I want to once again reiterate that with the launch of this stamp, we are determined to spread the message that each one of us individually and collectively have a responsibility to work for a healthy society.

I therefore would like to formally and officially launch the stamp to celebrate the 30 years of the Alma Ata declaration on Primary Healthcare and urge all of us to buy the stamp and use it!

Thank you very much.