South Africa News

TB is still one of the top infectious killers in the world, with 1.4 million people having died from TB in 2019. Meanwhile, Drug-resistant TB remains a public health crisis which is estimated to affect 77,000 Africans each year. The African region accounts for 25% of the global TB burden, with more than 500,000 African lives lost to this disease every year. Of these deaths, 58 000 were in South Africa. In South Africa HIV and TB remain colliding epidemics with 62% of TB deaths being among people living with HIV. In 2019 there were 360 000 new TB infections, 58% of them were in people living with HIV. On the other hand, TB was the cause of death for half of all HIV-related death (36 000 out of 72 000) in 2019. This underscores the importance of integrated TB and HIV interventions and services. Presenting a message of support on behalf of the UN family in South Africa at this year’s National World TB Day (WTBD) commemoration, the WHO Representative in South Africa, Dr Owen Kaluwa, called on the government and other stakeholders to bridge the financial gap for the TB response and to accelerate efforts towards achieving the targets and commitments to End TB, for the benefit of the South African population and her future generations.

The Nelson Mandela Metro and the Sarah Baartman Districts, two of the six health districts in the Eastern Cape Province have been reporting upward increase of confirmed COVID-19 cases during first three weeks of November. These were attributed to among others poor adherence to social distancing, inappropriate mask-wearing and other challenging hygiene practices. Most were also traced to local universities, schools and attendance of large gatherings. In Port Elizabeth, the WHO Representative in South Africa, Dr Kaluwa joined the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize and the Eastern Cape MEC of Health Ms Sindiswa Gomba in their oversight visit

The World Health Organization (WHO) commends the government of South Africa for its determined efforts that have helped to bend the COVID-19 pandemic curve. WHO is greatly encouraged by the ongoing measures to suppress the spread of SARs-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, on 14 August introduced the first phase of the surge team of WHO health experts, deployed to support South Africa's COVID-19 response management, to a high-level delegation from the government. The experts were welcomed at a reception which included WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus (virtually), South African Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Health Minister Dr Joseph Phaahla and Director-Deneral of health, Dr Sandile Buthelezi as well as the WHO Country Representative Dr Owen Kaluwa and Resident Coordinator of the UN in South Africa, Ms Nardos Bekele-Thomas.

The first members of a surge team of health experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa to bolster the country’s response to COVID-19. As the continent nears one million cases, WHO is expanding support to countries experiencing a significant uptick in cases.

The South African COVID-19 response will soon be bolstered by a surge team of health experts from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr Owen Kaluwa, the new World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in South Africa presented his credentials to the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini, today. Welcoming Dr Kaluwa to South Africa, the Deputy Minister, expressed her appreciation of WHO’s quality of deployments- presenting with vast experience that matches the needs of the Country particularly in advancing ‘Health for All’. According to the Deputy Minister, South Africa has tried its best to comply with WHO recommendations in terms of the Health Infrastructure, Communicable Diseases Control, and Joint Cross Border Health issues among others. She is, therefore, looking forward to Dr Kaluwa’s support in strengthening South Africa’s efforts in addressing these and other emerging health challenges.

The World Health Organization- country office for South Africa in partnership with the National Department of Health (NDoH) organized the "National Colloquium on Universal Health Coverage in South Africa" to commemorate the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day 2019 in Johannesburg on 12th Dec. Observed under the theme 'Keep the promise', the Colloquium followed on the ‘Political Declaration on UHC that was agreed by Heads of the States at the United Nation’s High-Level Meeting (UN-HLM) on UHC during the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2019. The President of South Africa HE C.M Ramaphosa also signed this UHC political declaration, thus demonstrating his strong vision and commitment to ensuring UHC for the people of South Africa. Through UHC political declaration, UN Member States also recognized the importance of universal health coverage in achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals”.

Universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is one of the key components of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 5 and contributes to the achievement of all the other SDGs. Given its critical roles therefore, WHO/AFRO is implementing a new four-year initiative, launched on 9 January 2019, to enhance existing efforts for reducing needless deaths from pregnancy in the region focusing on the provision of comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services, within the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) framework, especially for the most vulnerable populations, including those living in humanitarian settings.