STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER
DR B.SIBUSISO DLAMINI
AT THE THIRD NATIONAL HEALTH AND RESEARCH CONFERENCE
AT THE ROYAL SWAZI SUN CONVENTION CENTRE
15 OCTOBER 2014
Programme Director
Honourable Ministers
Your Excellency the United States Ambassador
World Health Organisation Deputy Regional Director
Presiding Officers and Members of both Houses of Parliament
Regional Administrators
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Swaziland
Development Partners
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honoured to be joining you all today, to see the exhibition and have the opportunity to address you on what, along with education, is the most dominant segment of public service delivery in our country – health.
Universal access to good quality health services is one of the fundamental human rights, together with food, shelter, education and security. But it comes at a cost and there can be very few countries in the world where cost is not a constraint, hence the need to secure the very best standard of health delivery with the resources available. Or, I should add, the resources that are made available. Because, to quote an extensively used, and highly appropriate expression – all the public services of a government are chasing the same money. If resources are limited in quantity then decisions have to be made on how best to allocate those scarce resources.
Doing the research, identifying the priorities, setting the standards, and then obtaining best value for money are of the essence in delivering a quality health service in a country constrained in terms of human and financial resources.
Having established unequivocally that access to good health is a basic human right, contributing to human happiness and well-being, we must add that for a vibrant economy – and we certainly need that – we must similarly recognise the obligation to provide a good health service. Healthy populations not only live longer but during their lives they sustain a good level of health and, as a result, are more productive.
“Investing in Health for Development” is a well chosen theme for this Conference since it acts as a reminder that health goals demand to be enshrined as a priority in all economic and social development plans. And let us not forget that, while the health sector is the primary actor in continuously raising the standard of health in our population, there are other significant actors. Investment in roads improves access to health services while a school feeding scheme enables children to receive a daily nutritious meal, and a comprehensive and well-taught school curriculum informs children on what is a healthy lifestyle and the serious damage that is done by any substance abuse. Furthermore, the process of civil service evaluation and reform provides the opportunity to design the most efficient configuration of health service personnel and their responsibilities.
And there can be no better way of monitoring the effectiveness of our health programmes than to measure their impact. As part of Government’s Programme of Action 2013-18 we have the new Swaziland Development Index which contains a number of key indicators such as maternal mortality and child mortality, as well as proximity to health services. We have set the targets and there must be no retreat from the challenges that will be encountered in achieving them. Performance will be measured annually.
Strengthening our health systems therefore remains high on the priority list. Especially given the limited resources that we have available, even for such high priority sectors as health, there is a pressing need to be resourceful and innovative at all times. Being constantly aware of what is happening elsewhere and learning from the research and experiences of other countries is vital.
Nowhere is this more relevant than in the context of the current Ebola epidemic that has emerged in a number of countries. Not yet a pandemic but one would not be so reckless as to guarantee that it will never get to that stage of extending across many parts of the world, as did HIV and AIDS. Swaziland has, more than almost any other nation in the world, been brutally damaged by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Thanks to scientific research and antiretroviral medication, combined with the efforts of our health services and the strong community support and the generosity of development partners such as the United States Government and its President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Response (PEPFAR), we have brought those with HIV right back into the mainstream of life and work, strong and optimistic and no longer with a terminal medical condition.
Now we are looking straight in the face of another serious virus with the same invisible and potentially deadly characteristics. Not as high a mortality rate as what HIV carried a decade ago, but dangerous nevertheless.
Let us start by not being excessively alarmed by the current Ebola outbreak. But the leading global health institutions are warning that it is a virus whose impact on the world will take some time to clear. And, frankly, it is the screening and quarantine measures that are put in place by national health services that will directly determine their respective levels of vulnerability.
For Swaziland it is therefore absolutely clear is that we must deal methodically and systematically to achieve the very first and foremost objective – to keep it out of our country. For the Head of the International Monetary Fund to come out with the advice that national governments should increase their fiscal deficits to accommodate the necessary spending to achieve the prevention standards is a highly unusual – even incongruous - statement by that institution but, given the global knowledge and links of the IMF, for that reason alone, its message should be taken seriously.
We can be pleased to have been congratulated by our print
media for establishing the screening process that is being applied to those people entering Swaziland from countries already affected by Ebola. But establishing a process, and sustaining it efficiently, are two different matters. Ebola is a threat and the health protection arrangements that we have set up must start and continue by implementing the detailed advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO), with regard to Ebola infection prevention and control. We have to be thoroughly meticulous, not only in sustaining the screening process but also in making preparations for dealing with any case of Ebola somehow entering the country.
This is the third occasion of our National Health and Research Conference to be held. It is an immensely important opportunity to share views on research and on nationwide access to high quality health services. We have today received some valuable information and advice on the importance of research and the need for its conversion to productive outcomes, and I am sure our health professionals will have taken the guidance on board. Maintaining this Conference on an annual basis will, I trust, enable us to measure the extent to which that advice is implemented.
I take the opportunity to thank the organizers of this event, and express great appreciation to our invited guests who have found the time to come to our country and share with us their views and experiences.
It is now my honour, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, to declare this 2014 National Health and Research Conference officially opened.
Thank you.