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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System Date: 21 Oct 2008 Title: Govt increases health budget to reduce child deaths -------------------- By Gabi Khumalo Cape Town - Government has allocated additional resources towards the health sector to provide for the introduction of three new vaccines which will reduce the number of children dying from pneumonia and diarrhoea. Delivering the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in the National Assembly, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel highlighted that several additional allocations had been included in the Adjusted Appropriation Bill, as provided for in section 30(2) of the Public Finance Management Act. The allocations provide for the introduction of three new child vaccines to reduce deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea, among others. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children worldwide. The pneumococcal vaccine reduces the incidence of pneumonia in vaccinated children by more than 20 percent. Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by a type of bacteria called Streptococcus pneumonia. When these bacteria invade the lungs, they cause the most common kind of bacterial pneumonia. The disease becomes fatal when it becomes meningitis by spreading to the bloodstream and/or the tissues and fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Other allocations in the MTBPS include new proposed salary scales for doctors, dentists, pharmacists and related professionals as well as expanded Tuberculosis (TB) track and trace teams. As part of the country's efforts to reduce the TB defaulter rate from 10 percent to 7 percent, 20 percent of health facilities now have TB tracing teams in line with the target set by the President in the State of the Nation Address. These teams are sent out in to communities and encourage TB defaulters to complete their treatment to make certain they do not form a resistance to the drug. During a social cluster briefing in July it was reported that the defaulter rate was at nine percent. In the districts that the department strengthens the defaulter tracing teams, it found that more than 90 percent of defaulters and more than 60 percent of them were back on treatment. Mr Manuel also allocated funds to increase the take-up of antiretroviral treatment programmes. A 2007 survey found a one percent reduction in the prevalence of HIV. The current prevalence rate is 29 percent. The rate of infections among the youth in particular has slowed further as well in women between 20 and 24 years of age. The MTBPS proposed a further R344 million to be allocated towards the school nutrition programme which has helped alienate hunger in the country's rural and township schools. The statement also sets aside R390 million for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). Education Minister Naledi Pandor earlier this year was quoted as saying that student funding has been an important part of the transformation initiated in 1994. "The NSFAS fund has grown to R1.5 billion in 2008 and graduates who have benefited from the scheme now make a considerable contribution to the fund in repayment," said Minister Pandor at the time. The pilot Mass Literacy programme, which has exceeded expectations in its first full year of operation, "Kha Ri Gude" has been allocated R107 million. This campaign, which forms part of the Adult Basic Education and Training programme, was launched by former President Thabo Mbeki during his State of the Nation Address in February this year. The campaign has been rolled out as a pilot this year and will go to full scale in 2009. A total of 360 000 learners have enrolled in the programme thus far, with 24 000 volunteer educators, 2800 supervisors and 150 coordinators being trained. Government's efforts to increase literacy in included in the Programme of Action, enabling 4.7 million South Africans achieve literacy by 2012. - BuaNews |
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