SA, Italy launch health partnership
Thabo Mokgola
24 March 2005
The Department of Health in collaboration with the Italian government is to inject R80-million over three years into a set of projects aimed at enhancing South Africa's health systems.
Announcing the initiative on Wednesday, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the four projects would improve information systems and planning capacity with the Department of Health.
The first project aims to provide support to the national and provincial health departments in health management and information systems, with funding of R27-million over three years.
The second will provide support for strategic planning in health at a national level, with funding of R26-million.
The third will provide support for health planning capacity in KwaZulu-Natal, with funding of R17-million.
The final project will provide support to mother and childcare and the development of information systems in KwaZulu-Natal, with funding of R9-million over
three years.
"We need make sure that there is skills transfer between Italian technical assistants and our officials working on these projects", Tshabalala-Msimang said. "We need to also develop plans to ensure the sustainability of these projects at the end of the funding period."
The projects follow three others South Africa and Italy launched previously, including one providing R15-million in support for health information management in Gauteng, and another providing R15-million in support for primary healthcare in KwaZulu-Natal.
About R6-million was also provided to Unicef's Integrated Management of Child Illnesses programmes in four provinces.
Source: BuaNews
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