The first of the eight Millennium Development Goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Representing government, Dr Kamy Chetty, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Health, told the South African Human Rights Commission that the government has ‘€œimplemented a policy of food fortification and providing food parcels with added nutrients and vitamins to address poverty and hunger’€.

‘€œAbout 96 percent of children between six and 11 months have obtained the supplements. There’€™s a number of initiatives around improving nutrition through the establishment of food gardens (and) food parcels. The number(s) of severely malnourished children that are seen in the different (health) facilities, are decreasing steadily’€, Chetty said.

Relating to MDG two, which says there must be universal primary education for every child, oral and written submissions were made by the Health and Poverty Project, based at the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Addressing the hearings, research officer, Sarah Skeen, showed a link between education and mental ill health.  

‘€œMental ill health is linked to educational failure through class repetition, poor performance and premature school leaving. It’€™s been estimated that 17 percent of children in adolescence in the Western Cape have got a mental health disorder. Children with physical disabilities are more likely to receive rehabilitative services than those with intellectual (or) mental disabilities’€, Skeen said.

According to the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at Wits University, the upliftment and empowerment of women, as required by MDG three, which aims to promote gender equality and empower women, needs to include vulnerable groups such as sex workers. Marlise Richter, a lecturer at the centre, urged South Africa to decriminalise sex work.

‘€œSex workers’€™ economic, social and physical vulnerability is created and aggravated by the criminalisation of sex work. Not only do these laws impact directly on sex workers’€™ dignity and freedom, but they create barriers to sex workers accessing social and economic rights. These vulnerabilities need to be addressed. We submit (to the commission) that, we won’€™t be able to reach our millennium development goals, if these problems aren’€™t addressed’€, said Richter.

On the subject of women’€™s vulnerability and general wellbeing, mental maternal health, came up as an area of major concern. In its submission, the Mental Health and Poverty Project linked MDG four ‘€“ to reduce child mortality – and MDG five, which aims to improve maternal health, saying statistics on mental maternal health in this country are ‘€œshocking’€.

‘€œThe suicide data that is available for South Africa suggests that young South African women have a disproportionately higher suicide rate. In Khayelitsha, one in three women present with post-natal depression. In rural areas of KwaZulu Natal, it was shown that 41 percent of pregnant women were depressed. In a study last year in the Northern Cape, where a high level of substance use during pregnancy was noted, one in 10 children were presenting with foetal alcohol syndrome’€, said Skeen.

Skeen told the commission that with regard to MDG six ‘€“ to combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases – there is a vicious cycle that exists between HIV and mental health.

‘€œIf you have a mental health problem, you are more likely to contract HIV through increased risk taking behaviour, which may be linked to substance use. Simultaneously, those with HIV, are more likely to develop mental health conditions. A study across five provinces has shown that 43 percent of people with HIV are presenting with a mental disorder’€, she said.  

With regard to MDG seven, which aims to ensure environmental sustainability, the Mental Health and Poverty Project said some natural disasters may lead to a number of mental health problems, such as Hurricane Katrina which attacked some parts of America, in 2005.

‘€œThere are a number of mental health impacts that are potentially from environmental problems – extreme weather events and disasters. A good example of this would have been Hurricane Katrina, where there was a spike in mental health problems after the occurrence and in, also, long term climate change’€, said Skeen.

None of the submissions focused on MDG eight ‘€“ to develop a global partnership for development.