The World Health Organisation has included some African countries on its low-risk yellow fever list, which means their citizens no longer need clearance certificates when visiting SA. Visitors from Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sao Tome and Principe would no longer be expected to produce a yellow fever certificate when entering SA. In accordance with international health regulations, SA requires a yellow fever certificate from all citizens and non-citizens over the age of one who have travelled from a yellow fever risk country or have been in transit for more than 12 hours at the airport of such a country.
Values, Policies and Rights
SA follows WHO guide on low-risk yellow fever arrivals
Maqutu A: BDlive, 4 February 2015
SA Health minister to assume more powers if new bills are passed
Thom A: Health-e News, 17 June 2008
Two bills recently tabled in the South Africa Parliament are set to shake up the private hospital industry and centralise decision-making over hospital tariffs as well as the regulation of new medicines and scientific trials within the health minister’s office. The National Health Amendment Bill (health bill) and the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Bill (medicines bill) were both published in April and there is widespread agreement that they are the most important pieces of health legislation to be proposed in recent years. The article presents the changes and the debate around the bills.
SADC Gender Protocol 2015 Barometer: Botswana
Glenwright D; Botswana Council of NGOs: Botswana Council of NGOs, Gaberone, June 2015
Botswana has made good progress against the targets of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development set for 2015, according to this report. However, President Ian Khama of the Republic of Botswana said that Botswana would not sign the SADC Gender Protocol because the government considers some its time frames unrealistic, and some of its measures to have serious resource implications that the state cannot guarantee. Progress is noted in the report on the health sector, with trained personnel delivering more than 90% of births and 84% of the population living within five kilometres of a quality health facility. However, the maternal mortality rate is noted to have increased and only 44% of the population access contraception. Although Botswana has one of the world's highest HIV prevalence more than 95% of HIV-positive pregnant women access the prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme. In spite of these achievements, this report also reveals obstacles for the country on the road to gender equality, including a failure to address contradictions between formal and customary laws, with the latter discriminating against women, especially widows and divorced women.
SADC Member States participate in 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence Campaign
Dambuza K: SADC Secretariat Monthly Newsletter 12, December 2018
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States joined the global community to raise their voices against gender based violence (GBV) during the 16 Days of Activism against GBV Campaign. This global Campaign runs from the 25 November to the 10 December of every year. For 2018, this Campaign was implemented under the global theme Orange Your World: #HearMeToo. The SADC Member States commemorated the 16 Days Campaign through localized themes and different activities involving stakeholders and the community. Key messages from some Members States are as follows: Botswana commemorated this Campaign day under the theme: “#HearMeToo; End Violence Against Women and Children”. His Excellency the President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi highlighted Botswana’s commitment to various gender instruments among which is SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. Namibia used this Campaign to bring to the forefront the voices of women and girls who have survived violence and those who are defending women’s rights. The Ministry of Family Affairs launched the 16 Days of Activism against GBV under a local theme of: “Orange Seychelles: Say NO to Gender-Based Violence”.
SADC Ministers of Labour & Social Partners Approve Policy Frameworks on Youth Employment and Portability of Social Security Benefits
Southern Africa Coordination Council (SATUCC), 8 June 2016
In May 2016, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministers of Labour and Social Partners at their meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, considered and approved two regional policy frameworks pertaining to employment and labour as part of the milestones for the SADC Regional Decent Work Programme (2013-2019). These are: SADC Youth Employment Promotion Policy Framework and the Cross boarder Portability of Accrued Social Security Benefits Policy Framework. The SADC Youth Employment Promotion Policy Framework guides SADC Member States on a harmonised, integrated and coherent approach to realising decent, secure and sustainable employment and entrepreneurship for the youth in the SADC region. The SADC Cross boarder Portability of Accrued Social Security Benefits Policy Framework responds to the fact that non-citizens are quite often discriminated against when it comes to access to social security. Portability of social security benefits is limited because SADC countries do not have a common regional policy framework on the matter despite that a few countries had already concluded bilateral labour and social security agreements. The main aim of the SADC Cross boarder Portability of Accrued Social Security Benefits Policy Framework is thus to provide mechanisms to enable workers moving within the SADC region to keep the social security benefits which they might have acquired under the legislation of one Member State or to enjoy corresponding rights under the legislation of the other Member State.
SADC regional assessment report of policies and programmes on child and adolescent HIV, TB and malaria: October 2011-July 2012
Southern African Development Community: October 2012
This regional assessment showed that the foundations for integration and harmonisation of child and adolescent HIV, TB, malaria policies and programming frameworks are already in place in the SADC region. However, in all countries’ national strategic frameworks/plans and guidelines, there is a need to reinforce child specific issues in prevention, diagnostics, and treatment and care. Major gaps remain in strategic frameworks/plans in articulating the integration of HIV-malaria and TB-malaria programmes, and on linking TB and malaria programmes to basic child services. In addition, policies and programming frameworks on HIV are not harmonised across the region, and monitoring and evaluation of all child- and adolescent-focused health programmes is urgently required. Despite these shortcomings, SADC argues that member states can build on the strong foundations and seize invaluable opportunities to scale up a harmonised continuum of care for the three diseases and integrate them with basic child services. This could have a real impact on child health, survival and development in the region and help SADC member states to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 (reduce child mortality) and 6 (combat HIV, malaria and other diseases), as well as other regional and international commitments.
SADC: Advantages of draft regional gender protocol
Mmegi, 20 April 2007
The proposed SADC Protocol on Gender and Development will enhance existing commitments to gender equality by providing accountability and monitoring mechanisms in the region, Assistant Minister for Labour and Home Affairs Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri said on Monday. He told a SADC Stakeholders Consultative Conference that that the draft Protocol on Gender and Development would bring a legally binding regional instrument and address emerging gender issues and concerns.
Safe abortion: Technical and policy guidance for health systems
World Health Organisation: 2012
Since first publication of this guidance in 2003, a considerable amount of new data have been produced and published, relating to epidemiological, clinical, service delivery, legal and human rights aspects of providing safe abortion care. Therefore, preparation for this revision of the guidance included extensive literature review and updating of recommendations related to service delivery, legal and policy issues, and the conduct of new systematic reviews and updates of outdated systematic reviews to provide the evidence for recommendations related to clinical questions prioritised by an international panel of experts. The substantial revisions in this update reflect changes in methods of abortion and related care, service delivery as it applies to the availability and use of new methods, and application of human rights for policy-making and legislation related to abortion, among other topics. Recommendations in the 2003 guidance for which there was no new evidence remain unchanged and are also included in the new edition.
Sanitation: A Human Rights Imperative
COHRE, UN-HABITAT, SDC and WaterAid release, 12 August 2008
This booklet addresses the benefit of treating sanitation in human rights terms,the legal basis of the right to sanitation, state obligations and standards for differing environments, and priority actions for governments and other stakeholders. While there has been some progress on the recognition and implementation of the right to water, the same is not true of sanitation services. The current International Year of Sanitation presents an opportunity to address the lack of attention paid to sanitation and hygiene in human rights terms. This publication is a call to recognise sanitation as a crucial aspect of the right to an adequate standard of living, setting out the most important strategies and measures that stakeholders and decision-makers can prioritise in order to ensure that sanitation is accessible and affordable to all. It is an advocacy tool to encourage more funding for sanitation, more debate and more research into the barriers to accessing affordable sanitation and how to remove them.
SDGs and the Importance of Formal Independent Review: An Opportunity for Health to Lead the Way
Hunt P: Health and Human Rights Journal, Perspectives, September 2015
It is widely recognised that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) need to be supported by more effective follow-up and review—or accountability—processes than were available to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But what should these processes be? In the last three or four years, this question has generated a wealth of literature within the UN and beyond. Here the author highlights five key points: Monitoring is not accountability, but one step towards accountability; although experts have a significant role to play, accountability should not be reduced to a technocratic exercise; it should be as transparent, accessible and participatory as possible. Accountability at the global level is important, but the primary locus for accountability must be at the national and sub-national levels; it is difficult for States at the national-level to hold accountable stakeholders, including non-state actors, for their transnational contributions and commitments to development, such as SDG17. One of the most important roles for global-level accountability is to strengthen accountability for these transnational contributions and commitments - because the SDGs are a colossal challenge of extraordinary complexity, they need to be supported by diverse accountability arrangements, including independent review of stakeholders’ progress, promises and commitments.