Chairperson and hon members, in order to address the exceptional challenges of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases, the heads of state of the then Organisation for African Unity held a special summit in Abuja, Nigeria from 24 to 27 April 2001, specifically devoted to this issue. The summit adopted a declaration in which the heads of state and governments pledged to set a target of allocating 15% of their governments' annual budgets to the improvement of the health sector.
No specific amount was pledged for HIV/Aids. The declaration merely stated that an appropriate and adequate portion of this amount should be put at the disposal of the national commissions or councils for the fight against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Although the declaration is not a binding document and the 15% of the annual budget was a target, our government, the South African government, is close to achieving this goal in that health expenditure as a percentage of total government spending, excluding the public entities, is currently in the region of 13%.
In 2009-10, over 11% of the health budget was spent on HIV/Aids in the public health sector. However, this may be an underestimate, as it excludes the hospitalisation costs of people with HIV/Aids. The operations of the SA National Aids Council, Sanac, secretariat are currently funded through the national Department of Health's budget. In addition, provinces allocate funding to support provincial Aids councils and many municipalities support local Aids councils. It is difficult to quantify the total amount of funding that is spent on the functioning of the national, provincial and district Aids councils. The total amount of funds set aside in the national Department of Health's budget for Sanac operations for the 2010-11 financial year is R4,7 million.
Decisions regarding the Sanac programme of action and, therefore, expenditure are taken at many levels. At a strategic level, decisions are taken by the Sanac Plenary, which is chaired by the Deputy President and co- chaired by a member of civil society, currently Mr Mark Heywood. At an operational level, decisions are taken by the chief executive officer of Sanac, Dr Nono Simelela.
At present, the secretariat is working with the national Department of Health to determine its budget requirements for the next Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. The department therefore is a conduit for funds for Sanac until it becomes an independent legal entity with its own board.
Public sector HIV/Aids expenditure occurs at all levels of the health system: district, province and national. In addition, all government departments have programmes aimed at HIV prevention. These programmes are co-ordinated by the Department of Public Service and Administration on behalf of government, and the Department of Public Service and Administration represents all government departments as a sector in Sanac. I thank you.
Chairperson, my follow-up question to the Deputy President is that life skills in the development of HIV/Aids are critical to empower women and communities to combat this pandemic. Certain provinces in South Africa underspent on this programme. Deputy President, what is the government doing to address this situation? What is your comment? I thank you.
Chairperson and hon members, as you know, the government does not take kindly to rollovers. In these difficult times, any rollovers, particularly in this area of work, would be criticised very severely by government, because resources to do work, particularly the prevention of new infections, are very difficult to come by. Therefore, with the limited resources available, we do urge provincial governments to ensure that this money is spent on what it was allocated for.
Of course, the NCOP would be within its rights, as a House, to criticise any government level or sphere that does not spend all of its allocated resources for health purposes. If there are rollovers, these would be clearly reflected in the Auditor-General's report. I think that is a joint responsibility, from our side, certainly, as national government, as a structure. As I said, I chair the SA National Aids Council. On a regular basis we try to nudge all sectors to do what is required of them, because the emphasis of our efforts is on prevention.
Prevention can only be attained if the general public is well aware of the factors that cause our people to be vulnerable to new infections. The idea is to prevent new infections and to treat those who are already infected. That is why there is a good campaign being run in the province of KwaZulu- Natal on medical male circumcision, precisely because it has been proved that medical male circumcision prevents new infections by up to 60%. It is not the total answer, but it is a step in the right direction. That campaign is going fairly well in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country. Thank you.
Chairperson, the Deputy President has indicated to us that the expenditure in 2009-10 on health was 13% of total expenditure. Given that, nine years ago, we made a commitment to aim at 15%, I would like to ask the Deputy President whether that is still our aim. If it is, has he any idea of when we might get to the 15%?
Chairperson, this declaration was a commitment towards the improvement of the health sector in its totality. As you know, hon members, health is one of our priorities, together with education, the fight against crime and corruption, the creation of more jobs, and rural development. So, because it is a priority, we believe that we should be able to reach this target and surpass it in the next few years.
Some of the initiatives that are taken to improve the health sector, such as the reopening of the colleges for training nurses, would ensure that our primary health care system is up and running once again. You know that in this country we have a good reputation for training well-qualified, efficient nurses. That is why other countries, like Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, have been recruiting and poaching our nurses. We want to go back to ensuring that we train, once again, nurses who would ensure that our primary health care system works efficiently. So, I have no doubt in my mind that we should be able to reach this target of 15% sooner rather than later. Thank you. Programmes to sustain national pride and unity among the people of South Africa
15. Ms N D Ntwanambi (ANC) asked the Deputy President:
(1) Whether the government has instituted any programmes to ensure that we sustain the national pride and unity that the people of South Africa and the African continent displayed during the hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether such programmes are currently being implemented; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether the Presidency will consider such programmes in order to enhance our shared nationhood and good citizenship; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?