The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministers of Health and Ministers responsible for HIV and AIDS convened a joint hybrid meeting to review the general state of health in the region with focus on major public health issues such as emergency disease outbreaks and preparedness, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Nutrition, and HIV & AIDS in Luanda, Republic of Angola, on 28th November 2023.
The Ministerial Meeting, chaired by the Republic of Angola, the current Chairperson of SADC, was attended by SADC Ministers or their representatives from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The meeting was also attended by Mrs. Angele Makombo N’tumba, SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration. The meeting was also attended by World Health Organization Africa Regional Office, The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS)- East and Southern Africa and The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
Her Excellency Dr. Silvia Lutucuta, Minister of Health for the Republic of Angola and Chairperson of the SADC Ministerial Committee on Health delivered the official opening remarks. She underscored the need to recognise the importance of coordinated multisectoral actions to promote a comprehensive and holistic approach to positively impact the social and environmental determinants of health, strengthening not only health systems, but also external factors that directly influence the well-being of the communities in the region.
H. E Dr. Lutucuta highlighted that, although the incidence of tuberculosis has decreased in the region between 2016 and 2021, currently standing at 13%, it continues to be a challenge and it is crucial to reinforce coverage of diagnostics and observed treatment, with adequate resources, qualified personnel, diagnostic equipment to move towards the goal of putting an end to tuberculosis.
She emphasised the importance of maintaining the momentum and intensifying efforts in implementing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Strategy as well as strengthening the integration of the Strategy into initiatives to control and combat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, namely Hepatitis B and Human Papilloma Virus, including the adoption of integrated prevention and care packages.
Mrs. Angele Makombo N’tumba, SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration in her welcome remarks, acknowledged that the road to full recovery of the health systems post COVID-19 pandemic is still long and requires sustained efforts from Governments, and all its Partners to work towards enhancing investments in both public health emergency preparedness and health development.
She commended Member States for providing support to national health programmes such as malaria, tuberculosis, health infrastructure, health information systems as well as in strengthening human resources for health.
The Ministers noted the progress in the implementation of the SADC Tuberculosis Strategic Plan, and urged Member States to prioritise high impact Tuberculosis programme areas such as in the mining sector to ensure acceleration towards ending tuberculosis by 2030, urged Member States to prioritise their commitments on ending tuberculosis (TB) in their national planning by increasing domestic financing for tuberculosis programmes and directed the SADC Secretariat to update the End Tuberculosis Strategy to reflect new targets as defined by the UN High Level Meeting on TB held in September 2023.
The Ministers urged Member States to utilise the Cross-Border Referral System (CBRS) and expand its functions to improve cross-border diseases surveillance; urged Member States to utilise the tuberculosis Dashboard and Data Repository; directed the Secretariat to develop future TB Reports using the TB Dashboard and data repository and directed the Secretariat to work with financial and technical partners to upgrade the CBRS to the highest technological standards to allow for its use in Member States.
The Ministers endorsed the 2023 SADC Malaria Report, urged Member States to strengthen high impact malaria interventions such as integrated vector control by improving its timeliness and expanding its coverage, strengthen national malaria epidemiological and entomological surveillance and timeously share information with other Member States and prioritise domestic resource mobilization by engaging with private sector to cover the unmet need for malaria control and elimination.
Regarding progress towards elimination of Malaria, the Ministers noted the current progress towards elimination in the E8 countries, endorsed the designation of Zambia as the new chair of the E8 for the period 2023-2025 and urged Member States to collaborate on strengthening transboundary interventions against Malaria.
On the implementation of the SADC Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SADC SRHR) Strategy and Scorecard, the Ministers endorsed the 2nd SADC SRHR Milestone Scorecard for 2023, urged Member States to devise strategies and approaches to fast-track the in maternal mortality and to promote multisectoral approaches to address the scourge of gender-based violence.
The Ministers also endorsed the 2023 Regional Nutrition Report, urged Member States to implement the recommendations of the Report, prioritise the procurement of life saving therapeutic feeds for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, complementing the current efforts by Partners, prioritise a multisectoral approach in addressing nutrition problems and ensure policy coherence across sectors, and further prioritise nutrition in the national development agenda and directed the Secretariat to work with technical partners to establish consensus on the use of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements in maternal nutrition supplementation as a replacement option for iron and folate supplementation.
In an effort to address the prevailing high numbers of overweight and obesity in the region, the Ministers noted the report of the landscape analysis on overweight and obesity in the SADC region, directed the Secretariat to work with Technical Partners to develop a costed obesity prevention strategic plan and present it in their next meeting in November 2024 and prioritise advocacy at the highest level to ensure a whole of government response to the burden of obesity .
The Ministers noted progress on Member States development of national mandatory food fortification programmes, regulations and strategies, urged Member States to strengthen their national Food fortification coordination mechanisms and strengthen private sector engagement in food fortification campaigns, to adopt the WHA 2023 Resolutions on Large Scale Food Fortification and directed the Secretariat to coordinate the International Cooperation Partners working in the area of Large Scale Food Fortification and to operationalise the Food Fortification and Universal Salt Iodisation Regional Coordination Mechanism.
The Ministers urged Member States to adopt and popularise the SADC Nutrition Score Card and directed the Secretariat to collaborate with ICPs to build capacity of Member States to use the Continental Nutrition Accountability Scorecard and revise the scorecard indicators based on the recommendations.
Ministers further noted the report on the status of public financing for nutrition in the region and endorsed the SADC Public Financing for Nutrition tracking tool and urged Member States to organise national advocacy meetings with Ministries of Finance to increase financing for nutrition in Member States; and urged them to roll out the Public Financing for Nutrition tracking tool with the support of International Cooperating Partners and the SADC Secretariat.
The Ministers endorsed the report on the implementation of the third Round of the SADC HIV and AIDS Special Fund, directed the SADC Secretariat to continue monitoring the implementation of the HIV/AIDS Round 3 Grants, expedite the closure of the Grant and revise the framework of implementation of the SADC HIV and AIDS Special Fund and submit the report during their next meeting in November 2024.
The Ministers noted the report on the implementation of the Future Life Now Programme, which was endorsed by Ministers of Education at their Meeting in 2019 in Namibia, with the aim to contribute to the reduction of new HIV infections and an increase in ART adherence among adolescents and young people in the SADC Region and urged Member States to mobilise domestic resources to implement best practices and lessons learned from the programme.
In addition, Ministers discussed and noted the importance of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Resolution 60/2 on Women, the Girl Child and HIV in addressing the vulnerabilities of women and girls, due to unequal power relations between men and women, boys and girls and the socio-economic inequalities that drive women’s vulnerability to HIV and AIDS.
