Chairperson, adequate health care for all citizens is paramount in any country in the world. In South Africa, and during the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period, the department is aiming to level the playing field by providing equal levels of health care to all. This is to be done by reducing inequality in the health system and increasing and improving the quality of care at public facilities.
In order to achieve these aims, we are spending a greater percentage of our gross domestic product on health than any of the other Brazil, Russia, India, China Bric, countries, and yet we still score worse on indicators such as tuberculosis and mortality rates.
Our hospitals remain ill-equipped or have damaged equipment. Sanitary conditions in most of our hospitals are below standard and this has in many instances led to the deaths of infants and adults.
Whilst we are making progress in the fight against HIV and Aids, the question must always be asked: Are we doing all that we can? We applaud government's turnaround plan in launching the national HIV counselling and testing campaign last year, but we still have much to recover. Nearly one in three women aged 25 to 29 years and more than a quarter of men aged 30 to 34 years are living with HIV. National proportions indicate that between 17% and 19% of the male and female population aged 15 to 49 years are HIV- positive. Antiretroviral, ARV, medication must be provided to these people and we urge the department to set a goal that triples the current number of people on ARV medication by 2015.
HIV/Aids also hinders us in our efforts at the eradication of the most sinister of illnesses. We want to see greater efforts made by the department at the community level and the strengthening of critical health systems at the national level. In Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, 73% of HIV-infected residents also have tuberculosis. This makes these two diseases jointly one of the greatest scourges we have ever faced in this country. Every effort should be made to eliminate them from our population.
We now have young women resorting to the practice of abortion as a form of birth control. The results of this practice can be disastrous and potentially harmful, both physically and psychologically, to the mother. We wish to see far greater initiatives by the department aimed at educating our young adults about this practice and the potential health risks associated with it.
Within the department itself the IFP would like to see the implementation of and adherence to strict governance and accountability measures, and the improvement of primary health care services.
In conclusion, we wish the Minister and his department every success for 2011. The IFP supports the Budget Vote.