SOUTH AFRICA PUBLIC HEALTH May 19 2006 ISSUE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRETORIA 002065 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/S; AF/EPS; AF/EPS/SDRIANO DEPT FOR S/OFFICE OF GLOBAL AIDS COORDINATOR STATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR GLOBAL BUREAU KHILL USAID ALSO FOR GH/OHA/CCARRINO AND RROGERS, AFR/SD/DOTT ALSO FOR AA/EGAT SIMMONS, AA/DCHA WINTER HHS FOR THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY/WSTEIGER, NIH/HFRANCIS CDC FOR SBLOUNT AND DBIRX E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON KHIV SOCI TBIO EAID SF SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA PUBLIC HEALTH May 19 2006 ISSUE Summary -------------- ¶1. Summary. Every two weeks, Embassy Pretoria publishes a public health newsletter highlighting South African health issues based on press reports and studies of South African researchers. Comments and analysis do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the U.S. Government. Topics of this week's newsletter cover: Fears that New Health Act Would Increase Absenteeism; TB Leading Cause of Death in Eastern Cape Metropolitan Area; Media Study Reports that 2% of South African News Report about AIDS; South African Department Conducts HIV/AIDS Survey; KwaZulu-Natal Increases Mobile Clinics; SA Government Invests in Nanotechnology; Spending on Health Conditional Grants Examined; Aspen to Manufacture Tamiflu; South Africa has Largest ARV Program. End Summary. Fears that New Health Act Would Increase Absenteeism -------------- -------------- ¶2. According to a study by management company CAM Solutions, the direct costs of absenteeism to employers in 2005 was R12 billion ($2 billion using 6 rands per dollar) and the indirect costs through lost productivity and hiring and training of additional staff totaled R 24 billion ($4 billion). Attorney Ndumiso Voyi of Leppan Beach, suggested that the new Traditional Health Practitioners Act could lead to increased absenteeism. According to section 23 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, companies are not obliged to pay workers if they have been absent for more than two days without a medical certificate. The medical certificate produced has to be signed by a medical practitioner or a person authorized to treat patients, and must be registered with a professional council established in terms of legislation passed by parliament. The new act now includes a wider range of health workers eligible to sign certificates. Voyi believes the largest concern is that it is practically impossible, even by another traditional healer, to verify findings by a traditional health practitioner. South Africans spend about R250 million ($42 million) on traditional healers each year and the Traditional Health Practitioners Act recognizes more than 300,000 traditional healers. Sazi Mhlongo, the president of the SA Traditional Healers' Association, said that the provinces were already training sangomas so that the system would not be abused. Source: Business Day, May 9. TB Leading Cause of Death in Eastern Cape Metropolitan Area -------------- -------------- ¶3. In the metropolitan area Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth environs),17% of all deaths are attributed to tuberculosis, the most common cause of fatalities. More than 13,000 residents were registered with the disease in 2004/2005. Two Eastern Cape districts - Nelson Mandela Bay and Amatole district - have been included in the national TB crisis management plan, which focuses on four districts with a high number of TB cases and low cure rates. The OR Thambo metropolitan area is another problem TB area in the Eastern Cape Province. Nelson Mandela Bay's cure rate for 2003/2004 was 38.9%, while the successful treatment completion rate was 60.3%. Both figures are significantly below the national average cure rate and treatment completion rate of 50.1% and 62.9%, respectively. The high number of TB cases in the O R Thambo district can be explained by the metropolitan area's rural poverty and the inability of health department staff to access many areas to treat and educate residents. Explanations of the high TB rate are fewer for Nelson Mandela Bay, and reports on tuberculosis in the area were being studied. Many analysts link the metropolitan area's high HIV/AIDS infection rates. According to a national study of pregnant women receiving antenatal services, Nelson Mandela Bay has an HIV- positive prevalence rate of 34.5%, compared to the provincial average of 28%. The Eastern Cape has set aside R23 million ($3.8 million) to fund the TB crisis management plan and would provide more treatment and education programs. Source: The Herald, May 11. Media Study Reports that 2% of South African News Report about AIDS -------------- -------------- PRETORIA 00002065 002 OF 004 ¶4. The HIV and AIDS and Gender Baseline Study, conducted by Gender Links and the Media Monitoring Project reports that only 3% of media articles in 11 SADC countries reported on HIV/AIDS, with only 2% of South African news items focusing on HIV/ADIS. The study monitored 118 media organizations with 37,000 news items over October-November 2005. The reporting on HIV/AIDS varied across SADC countries from 19% in Lesotho, to only 1% in Mauritius. People living with HIV/AIDS constituted 4% of all sources, compared to 42% of government officials and officials representing international organizations. People living with HIV/AIDS were most often used as sources in Swaziland (10%), Tanzania (7%) and South Africa (6%). In Malawi, no mention of people living with HIV/AIDS was made as sources in the period under review. Despite the disproportionate burden of the HIV/AIDS borne by women, only 39% of the news items used women. In the area of treatment, the media focus remains on antiretroviral treatment (32%) and the medical aspects of AIDS (27%),with positive living, the role of nutrition, and where to go for help receiving only marginal mention. The study found that there have been a number of improvements in media reporting. These include fewer blatant stereotypes (10%) and increased sensitivity to language. Feature stories on HIV and AIDS are higher (10%) than in general coverage (5%) and that a high number of stories are original stories produced by newsroom journalists. In South Africa, the Mail & Guardian had the most news items on HIV and AIDS and Rapport the lowest. Source: Health e-News and www.journalism.co.za, May 3; The Star, May 4. South African Department Conducts HIV/AIDS Survey -------------- -------------- ¶5. The Department of Correctional Services is conducting a survey to determine the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in prisons. Department of Correctional Services Chief Deputy Commissioner, Teboho Motseki, told a committee in Parliament that the survey, already underway in some prisons in Gauteng, would be extended to other provinces. Two weeks ago, 119 HIV positive prisoners at the Durban Westville prison started a hunger strike, demanding access to antiretroviral treatment (ARV). The Department of Correctional Services does not provide ARVs, but provides transport to HIV positive prisoners to sites of the Department of Health where they can receive the treatment. However, the Department of Health could not provide the prisoners with ARVs at treatment sites, as the prisoners did not have identity documents. The prisoners are now receiving treatment after intervention by the Department of Correctional Services to obtain necessary documents for the affected prisoners. Source: Bua News, May 10. KwaZulu-Natal Increases Mobile Clinics -------------- ¶6. The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department increased the number of mobile clinics valued at R11.9 million ($2 million) so that rural communities will have better access to primary health care. A total of 74 vehicles mounted with equipped capsules will be used to reach rural areas that have no fixed clinics. The capsules are fitted with medical equipment and medication used in primary health care. Each mobile unit is staffed by a minimum of two nurses. Each vehicle, a Nissan truck, cost R95,000 ($15,800) and constructing and fitting the capsules on each vehicle cost R62,500 (10,400). An additional doublecab 4x4, valued at R161 000 ($26,800),has also been bought to service areas with poor road infrastructure. Unlike previous mobile clinics, which had removable capsules, the new vehicles were not separable from the capsules so that they could be used only as mobile clinics. Of the 74 vehicles, 12 will be sent to the Ugu district, 11 to Uthungulu, eight to Sisonke, seven each to Zululand and Umkhanyakude, six to eThekwini and Ilembe, five to Umzinyathi and Umgungundlovu, and four each to Uthukela and Amajuba. The mobile clinics will supplement the work of 375 fixed clinics that serve about 1.4 million rural patients in the province every month. Patients will have access to basic medication, and be examined and treated for minor ailments. Source: The Mercury, May 11. SA Government Invests in Nanotechnology -------------- ¶7. The Department of Science and Technology recently launched PRETORIA 00002065 003 OF 004 a national nanotechnology strategy for South Africa, which will include a R450 million ($75 million) investment over the next three years. The government views investment in nanotechnology as an opportunity to improve information technology, environmental sciences, health and industrial technology. The government is looking at investing in technology that can purify mine waste water, develop lower-cost solar cells for energy, and develop drugs that work against biological diseases - all areas where nanotechnology has shown promise. A new national facility will be housed at Mintek, a Johannesburg science council specializing in mineral and metallurgical technology. Project AuTEK is a joint venture formed between Mintek, local universities, and the three major South African gold mining houses - AngloGold Ashanti, Gold FQlds and Harmony Gold. Within this project, AuTEK Biomed, headed by Dr Judy Caddy, focuses on creating gold-based chemo-therapeutics for diseases where there is a need for improved medicine, such as cancer, malaria and HIV and AIDS. Caddy said that since 2002 the team had been working on developing cancer drugs that are gold-based. Currently, the two largest-selling anti-cancer drugs are platinum-based. Caddy explained that gold-based drugs have an advantage over platinum-based drugs because gold drugs accumulate in the mitochondria. Caddy said the key is to ensure that the drugs are structurally fine-tuned so that they are selective, and destroy only unhealthy cancerous cells. In 2005, the team began HIV research to determine whether gold compounds can act as inhibitors to HIV. South Africa has to compete with countries such as Japan, India and the U.S., which each invest nearly a billion dollars annually on nanotechnology development. Source: The Star, May 6. Spending on Health Conditional Grants Examined -------------- - ¶8. The Finance and Fiscal Commission found that the spending of conditional grants (grants designed to be spent for a specified purpose) at national and provincial levels was not properly monitored. The Commission examined several health conditional grants to illustrate conditional grant shortcomings. According to the Commission's findings, new conditional grants have been introduced without regard to their relationship to existing grants, with several uncoordinated grantQserving the same purposes. In addition, the Commission's report pointed out that there were no pre- implementation plans and assessments that identified potential risks that might impede implementation, nor were there guidelines to mitigate such risks. Challenges related to the administrative requirements of the conditional grants are not identified and resolved before implementation. Conditions for spending were not specified in detail and provinces were not required to meet minimum standards. The Commission asserted that misdirected spending of two conditional health grants worth R6.5 billion ($1.08 billion) undermined public health goals and that these grants have not been independently reviewed since they began in 1998. The Commission's report claimed that public hospitals received only 52% of the funds necessary to provide a reasonable service. There were also 10.4% fewer hospital beds for the sick than there should have been. The Commission, set up under the constitution to advise the Treasury on the division of revenue between national, provincial and local governments, presented its recommendations for 2007-08 allocations to the National Council of Provinces. Source: Business Day and Business Report, May 16. Aspen to Manufacture Tamiflu -------------- ¶9. Roche Holding will allow Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, Africa's biggest maker of generic drugs, to make copies of its Tamiflu influenza medicine for use in the event of a bird flu pandemic. Roche will provide technical and clinical data to help Aspen produce and register the medicine and will supply the active ingredient oseltamivir. The World Health Organization and other governments are stockpiling Tamiflu for use as a preventive treatment in case the virus mutates into a form that is contagious among humans. The agreement is non- exclusive, meaning that Roche and other companies that have licensed the drug can fill orders in Africa. Source: Bloomberg and Business Report, May 16. South Africa has Largest ARV Program PRETORIA 00002065 004 OF 004 -------------- ¶10. According to Health Department statistics, more than 210,000 South Africans were now receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART),making it the largest treatment program in the world. By the end of March 2006, 134,473 people began ART treatment and an estimated 80,000 people began treatment in the private and non-governmental organization sectors. No data was available on how many of those undergoing treatment remained on it, for how long, or how many had died. Improvements in programs devoted to promoting behavior change and condom use, the expansion of health facilities accredited to provide AIDS- related services, the recruitment and training of health professionals, the provision of nutritional supplements and home- and community-based care were also noted. Source: Cape Times, SAPA, May 18. TEITELBAUM