Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has announced his 25-person team which will advise him on the National Health Insurance plan crafted by the ANC. The team includes among others academics, pharmacists, researchers and the private healthcare industry. Chair of the ANC's NHI task team Dr Olive Shisana will also chair Motsoaledi's committee.
Africa has the largest number of children living with HIV. A campaign launched recently seeks to mobilize political will and financial resources to overcome the bottle-necks that hinder services for children who have HIV and to prevent HIV infection in children.
Former colleagues describe Dr Molefi Sefularo as a change agent and the tonic South Africa'€™s beleaguered health system needs. The former North West health MEC was last year appointed as deputy health minister and was recently handed a list of critical responsibilities not traditionally reserved for deputies. Anso Thom of Health-e News Service spoke to him in his Cape Town office.
The health ministry is pushing for the national health budget to be ring-fenced and is looking at the establishment of South African National AIDS Council (SANAC)-type implementation bodies that function separately from the department and have oversight over all the role-players.
CAPE TOWN - A study conducted among pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town has found that 10% of the prospective mothers were abusing the drug Methamphetamine or tik as it is know in the Western Cape.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi spoke at the recent launch of the 2008 National Antenatal Sentinel HIV and Syphilis Prevalence Survey.
CAPE TOWN - More than one-million babies are stillborn during labour every year '€“ 98% in low- and middle-income countries - yet global policy discussions around these largely silent deaths are mostly nonexistent. On top of this another 904 000 babies die soon after birth due to birth complications, closely linked to almost half of the world'€™s 536 000 maternal deaths.
CAPE TOWN '€“African countries, much poorer and less resourced than South Africa, are using trained mid-level health workers to perform tasks traditionally reserved for doctors, including surgery, and in the process saving the lives.
Six provinces may run out of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs as a result of a financial shortfall experienced by the Department of Health totalling one billion rand.
Dr Nono Simelela, newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer of the South African National AIDS Council, promises to improve the way in which SANAC will function in the future.
Health department Director General Thami Mseleku, a destructive leftover from former health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang'€™s reign, will leave the end of the month, with the Western Cape'€™s Director-General for Health Professor Craig Househam set to step in.
More infants could be born free from HIV in South Africa. This follows the recent introduction of the National Plan for Acceleration of the Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission programme, or PMTCT A-Plan.
Government publishes an ambitious timetable for preparing health institutions for the National health Insurance scheme - but leaves virtually no space for public comment
The latest presentations on NHI from government and other role players from the Board of Healthcare Funders conference. This presentation by DR CLARENCE MINI.
The latest presentations on NHI from government and other role players from the Board of Healthcare Funders conference. This presentation by Sipho Ngidi, Chairperson Board of Trustees, Bankmed.
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