Massive resources to combat Aids
Shaun Benton
12 April 2005
The state is massively increasing resources in the fight against HIV/Aids, with plans to spend more than R3-billion on anti-retroviral drugs alone over the next three years.
The government will also be spending far more on its comprehensive plan for the management, care and treatment of HIV/Aids, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in her budget speech in Parliament last week.
Funding to assist provinces with implementation of the plan is being increased by 45% from R782-million in 2004/05 to R1.135-billion in 2005/06.
Seven companies have been appointed by the government to provide sustainable supplies of HIV-fighting drugs through a tender valued at R3.4-billion.
At the same time, the government is continuing with research on traditional medicines "to ensure that all the medicines that have proven to have an impact in alleviating conditions associated with Aids get the necessary scientific endorsement", the minister
said.
Despite a health budget increase of 11.4% - to a total of R9.825-billion this year - challenges remain and the provision of health services remains complex, the minister acknowledged.
"The challenges on the ground are enormous, including the need to attract necessary staff to underserved areas, improving the turn-around times for laboratories, as well as ensuring compliance with treatment regimes", Tshabalala-Msimang told Parliament.
Other challenges include the strengthening of control systems to ensure that resources are not lost to corruption, she said.
The availability of condoms to South Africans to protect them from sexually transmitted infections is also a key element in the country's fight against HIV/Aids.
The distribution of male condoms increased from 302-million in 2003 to 346-million in 2004, while 1.2-million female condoms were distributed through 203 sites nationwide in 2004, and the health department has taken advantage of a
stronger rand to increase its stock of these condoms for distribution this year.
Infant, child mortality rates down
The minister said intensive efforts to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals on health had resulted in several major achievements.
For example, in 1998 South Africa's infant mortality rate was 45.4 per 1 000 live births. By 2003 this had decreased to 42.5 for every 1 000 births, the minister said, while mortality of children under five had decreased from 59.4 in every 1 000 children in 1998 to 57.6 per 1 000 in 2003.
The proportion of births attended to by a nurse or doctor had increased from 84% in 1998 to 92% in 2003.
Cholera, Malaria, TB
Work by other departments had also improved South Africans' opportunities for better health, with water-borne diseases down thanks to increased provision of clean water and sanitation.
"We have not had outbreaks of cholera
over the past year", the minister said.
South Africa's extension of its malaria control programme to other countries in the region had seen cases of malaria in South Africa drop from 120 per 100 000 people in 1999 to 28 for every 100 000 in 2003.
Tshabalala-Msimang said that nutritional support for patients was an ongoing strategy in the fight against TB, a major killer in South Africa. "Supplementary meals and multivitamin syrup or tablets are being provided to about 153 000 people", she said.
Regarding traditional healers, the minister said the government was finalising regulations for the implementation of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act, and would be consulting with practitioners to ensure that a Council for Traditional Health Practitioners was up and running this year.
Source: BuaNews
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