South Africa News

23 February, 2017: The World Health Organization strongly supports yesterday’s announcement by the Government of South Africa to implement a tax on sugary beverages as part of the country’s campaign to promote the health of its citizens and combat the increasing challenges of diabetes and obesity.

The tax on sugary drinks was among several important health measures announced as part of the government’s 2017/18 budget.

The World Health Organization supports the consideration of Government of South Africa of introduction of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) to help reduce excessive sugar intake.  This is one of interventions proposed in the Strategy for the prevention and control of obesity in South Africa 2015-2020. WHO has supported introduction of such taxes since it was proposed by the National Treasury in August 2016.

The World Health Organization yesterday joined South Africa’s Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) in launching the country's Complaints Management Call Centre which will receive and register public complaints relating to non-compliance with prescribed norms and standards for health establishments. 

In recent years there has been increasing attention in South Africa on improving quality of health service and care.  The Call Centre will provide the public a platform to lodge complaints about negative experiences which may include:

South Africa’s Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), as part of the country’s October Transport Month, hosted the National Schools Road Safety Debate and Participatory Education Techniques (PETs) competitions finals from 03-07 October 2016. The competing participants were learners in grades 10 and 11 provincial finalists who are themselves at-risk on roads as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, novice drivers, and passengers.

The WHO 2016 sponsored CNN Multichoice Best African Health and Medical Journalism award has been won by Ms Veronica Narkwor-Kwabla, of Tv3 Network, Ghana, for her documentary Ebola Orphans.   According to the judging panel, her documentary filed from Liberia and Sierra Leone shone a light on some of the ostracized children who are seeking new families. The question she examined was how the two countries will recover from the crisis that crippled health care systems, families and businesses.

Pretoria, 15 March 2016 - During the annual ODA Coordinating Forum chaired by the Honorable Minister and attended by a dozen ambassadors, the WHO Representative in her capacity as Acting UN Resident Coordinator, delivered the UN statement of support.  In the statement, the UN recognized National Health Insurance as the embodiment of South Africa’s international commitments that recognize health as a right for all individuals. 

Pretoria, 17 February 2016 - The WHO Country Office in South Africa and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are making oral submissions to the Competition Commission's Market Inquiry into Private Healthcare on 17 February 2016 in Pretoria.

Final Report

Summary Document