Ministers of Health and other Ministers responsible for HIV and AIDS within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are expected to hold a joint meeting in Johannesburg next week.
According to the Department of Health, the meeting will discuss a “number of priority health issues, review progress made on regional health commitments and strengthen collaboration in addressing shared public health challenges”.
“The region continues to face a burden of disease characterised by the triple threat of high HIV/AIDS prevalence, tuberculosis [TB], and malaria. This is aggravated by rising non-communicable diseases [NCDs] and climate-related health risks of waterborne diseases such as cholera.
“The SADC region accounts for at least one-third of all people living with HIV and AIDS globally, while eight member states are among the countries with the highest rates of TB. On the other hand, about 75% of the population in the region remains at risk of contracting malaria, a deadly but preventable and treatable disease,” the department said.
The meeting provides an opportunity for South Africa to demonstrate its leadership in “actively shaping the regional health agenda, in alignment with national and SADC health priorities”.
“The regional health ministers, joined by representatives from international health organisations -- including the World Health Organisation, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA and UNICEF -- will also discuss issues such as improved coordination of disease outbreak response as part of ongoing efforts to ensure timely sharing of critical information during health emergencies to prevent and manage cross-border diseases.
“Some of the topics to dominate the discussions at the two-day summit include ending the TB epidemic in the Southern African region, malaria control and elimination, implementation of the SADC Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Strategy and Scorecard, Regional Health Financing Hub, and an assessment of the status of health in SADC corrections facilities or prisons,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
