SA makes breakthrough in combating infant mortality
Posted 8th July 2008 at 05:30 PM by NewsTracker
By Bathandwa Mbola
Pretoria - For the first time in South Africa two vaccines to reduce and prevent the main causes of death among infants will be made available in South Africa.
A vaccine to prevent viral pneumonia in children and another to prevent viral diarrhoea is to be launched by the Department of Health.
This is according to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who was briefing reporters on the Social Cluster’s progress towards implementing Government’s Programme of Action on Tuesday.
These additions to the department's immunisation programme are part of government’s strategy to combat infant mortality and realise the Millennium Development Goals.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and HIV as the five main causes of death among children aged between one month and five years.
These five diseases contribute to more than half of all child deaths.
Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension, however, also continue to place a burden on the country’s health care system, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the framework for long term care for non-communicable diseases has been sent to provincial health departments for comments and the department is following up with its provincial counterparts to finalise this consultation process.
Turning to other issues, the minister said the cluster had reported earlier this year that it would build on the Healthy Lifestyle Campaign to encourage healthy living and decrease risky behaviour including smoking.
As such, the Tobacco Control Amendment Bill was passed two weeks ago in the National Assembly. It has now been passed to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.
“Through this Bill, we seek to further control the advertising, promotion and sale of tobacco products in the country in line with our healthy lifestyles campaign and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.”
The amended Bill will strengthen sections which prohibit advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the regulation of smoking in public places.
It will also see the introduction of picture-based health warnings on cigarette packets as well as the removal of misleading descriptions such as "mild" and "light" which carries a hefty fine.
In further efforts to encourage healthier living in South Africa, the department is to increase the number of health-promoting schools from 3500 to at least 5000.
The cluster, which is made up of the Department’s of Health, Social Development, Home Affairs, Transport, Education and Housing, also noted the number of adults who are voluntarily taking HIV tests.
Ms Tshabalala-Msimang said this was in line with government’s plans to increase such figures from 25 percent to 35 percent.
“We are also encouraged by the data as at 2 June 2008, which indicates that the number of clients tested for HIV [excluding antenatal] is 1 474 437 and the number of lay counsellors receiving a stipend is standing at 6 815.”
On Tuberculosis (TB) the minister said there was a decrease in both the infection and defaulter rate.
She also informed the media about the breakthrough new rapid diagnostic test for Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) that is being rolled out by the department.
"We will now be able to diagnose drug resistant TB in seven days compared to several weeks or months using our current method," Ms Tshabalala-Msimang said.
The test is already available in four provinces and will be rolled out to the rest of the country over the coming months. - BuaNews
Pretoria - For the first time in South Africa two vaccines to reduce and prevent the main causes of death among infants will be made available in South Africa.
A vaccine to prevent viral pneumonia in children and another to prevent viral diarrhoea is to be launched by the Department of Health.
This is according to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who was briefing reporters on the Social Cluster’s progress towards implementing Government’s Programme of Action on Tuesday.
These additions to the department's immunisation programme are part of government’s strategy to combat infant mortality and realise the Millennium Development Goals.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and HIV as the five main causes of death among children aged between one month and five years.
These five diseases contribute to more than half of all child deaths.
Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension, however, also continue to place a burden on the country’s health care system, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the framework for long term care for non-communicable diseases has been sent to provincial health departments for comments and the department is following up with its provincial counterparts to finalise this consultation process.
Turning to other issues, the minister said the cluster had reported earlier this year that it would build on the Healthy Lifestyle Campaign to encourage healthy living and decrease risky behaviour including smoking.
As such, the Tobacco Control Amendment Bill was passed two weeks ago in the National Assembly. It has now been passed to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.
“Through this Bill, we seek to further control the advertising, promotion and sale of tobacco products in the country in line with our healthy lifestyles campaign and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.”
The amended Bill will strengthen sections which prohibit advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the regulation of smoking in public places.
It will also see the introduction of picture-based health warnings on cigarette packets as well as the removal of misleading descriptions such as "mild" and "light" which carries a hefty fine.
In further efforts to encourage healthier living in South Africa, the department is to increase the number of health-promoting schools from 3500 to at least 5000.
The cluster, which is made up of the Department’s of Health, Social Development, Home Affairs, Transport, Education and Housing, also noted the number of adults who are voluntarily taking HIV tests.
Ms Tshabalala-Msimang said this was in line with government’s plans to increase such figures from 25 percent to 35 percent.
“We are also encouraged by the data as at 2 June 2008, which indicates that the number of clients tested for HIV [excluding antenatal] is 1 474 437 and the number of lay counsellors receiving a stipend is standing at 6 815.”
On Tuberculosis (TB) the minister said there was a decrease in both the infection and defaulter rate.
She also informed the media about the breakthrough new rapid diagnostic test for Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) that is being rolled out by the department.
"We will now be able to diagnose drug resistant TB in seven days compared to several weeks or months using our current method," Ms Tshabalala-Msimang said.
The test is already available in four provinces and will be rolled out to the rest of the country over the coming months. - BuaNews
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