Advancing the rights of South Africans through healthcare

Maternal health – which covers the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period – is one of the many health challenges affecting women globally. According to the World Health Organization’s Improving Maternal and Newborn Health and Survival and Reducing Stillbirth Progress Report 2023, “an estimated 4.5 million maternal deaths, newborn deaths and stillbirths still occur globally each year – the vast majority of which are completely preventable”. Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and Southern Asia are reported to have experienced the largest numbers of these deaths. This is a significant matter that we must intensely deal with in South Africa, especially as we mark Women’s Month in August.

One of the proposed actions to address the challenge is that “healthcare systems that are synergistic, efficient and integrated are necessary to support quality and respectful care for pregnant women and newborns. This requires strengthening infrastructure, health worker capacities and competencies, commodity and device availability, and supply chains, referrals and networks of health facilities”.

All these point to the right to healthcare, which government intends to strengthen and take to greater heights through the National Health Insurance (NHI) – a health financing system that is designed to pool funds to provide access to quality affordable personal health services for all South Africans based on their health needs, irrespective of their socio-economic status.

The NHI seeks to ensure that access to health services does not impose financial hardships on individuals and their families. It will also ensure that the country achieves universal health coverage in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

In June, the National Assembly passed the NHI Bill, paving the way for the establishment of the NHI Fund and the setting out of its powers, functions and governance structures.

The Bill will also create mechanisms for the equitable, effective and efficient use of the resources of the fund, to meet the health needs of users and preclude undesirable, unethical and unlawful practices in relation to the fund. It further seeks to address barriers to access, in line with the National Development Plan: Vision 2030, which envisages to overcome the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

It will result in citizens having access to medical care (public or private) closer to where they live or work without paying for those services.

Government has also come up with initiatives aimed at improving the conditions of public facilities, including the allocation of R7.2 billion over three years to facilitate maintenance, refurbishment, upgrades, replacements of old infrastructure and building new infrastructure.

Government has put measures in place to prevent the possibility of corruption getting on the way of this system. The fund’s measures involve establishing and operating a unit that focuses on preventing, detecting, investigating and correcting fraud and corruption.

As former President Nelson Mandela once remarked: “We must ensure that treatment is made available to those who need it, most especially to those who cannot afford it. Health cannot be a question of income; it is a fundamental human right”. The NHI is aimed at achieving the dream of equal access to healthcare.

As the public sector, especially government communicators, let us communicate accurate information on the NHI to demystify the falsehood being published on various platforms. It is our duty to ensure an informed citizenry and push back the frontiers of fake and misleading information.

For more information on how the fund will work, visit www.sanews. gov.za/features-south-africa/ national-health-insurance-all-youneed-know