Issued by: GCIS
In the Government Gazette dated 23 April 1999, the Department of Health issued for public comment draft regulations making AIDS deaths a notifiable medical condition. The draft regulations do not require that HIV positive status be notified.
This step has been necessitated by the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. An estimated 1500 new infections occur daily and it is further estimated that one in eight South Africans are living with the disease, approximately 3,2 million.
Currently AIDS disease and AIDS deaths are not notifiable or reported to the health authorities. Therefore there is no accurate national information about the numbers of persons living with AIDS or the number of persons who died from AIDS. This information is important for programme planning purposes, resource allocation, determining the projected number of persons who may require hospitalisation, community or home care.
The draft regulations stipulate that health care providers who diagnose AIDS or who certify deaths as AIDS related, must notify health authorities. Information to be provided to health authorities include the patient's age, sex, population group, date of diagnosis, medical condition at the time of diagnosis, information concerning the probable source of infection, and the city or town in which the person resides, Names and other personal identifiers will not be collected or reported to health authorities. The source of infection refers to whether the infection was due to sexual activity, intravenous drug use, blood transfusion, mother to child transfusion or any other source.
The draft regulations also indicate that the person making the diagnosis of AIDS disease or death caused by AIDS must notify immediate family members and caregivers of persons with AIDS.
AIDS is a notifiable medical condition in many countries in Africa for example Angola and Kenya as well as in other parts of the world for example Sweden, Israel, and certain states in Canada and Australia. It should also be noted that there are currently 33 other diseases in South Africa which are notifiable, examples of which are typhoid, plaque, polio and maternal deaths.
The first comprehensive nationwide Demographic and Health survey was conducted in 1998. Of those who responded, 69% agreed that AIDS should be reported to health authorities.
The decision to declare AIDS disease and AIDS deaths notifiable came after extensive discussions within the Inter Ministerial Committee on AIDS, which is chaired by the Deputy President. This Committee and Cabinet have lent their support to making AIDS disease and AIDS deaths a notifiable medical condition. There were also consultations with Ministers of Health within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who also supported this action.
Individuals and organisations are invited to submit comments within 90 days to the Director-General, Department of Health, for attention: Health Systems Directorate.
6 May 1999