Chairperson and hon members, in order to address the exceptional challenges of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases, the heads of state of the then Organisation for African Unity held a special summit in Abuja, Nigeria from 24 to 27 April 2001, specifically devoted to this issue. The summit adopted a declaration in which the heads of state and governments pledged to set a target of allocating 15% of their governments' annual budgets to the improvement of the health sector.
No specific amount was pledged for HIV/Aids. The declaration merely stated that an appropriate and adequate portion of this amount should be put at the disposal of the national commissions or councils for the fight against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Although the declaration is not a binding document and the 15% of the annual budget was a target, our government, the South African government, is close to achieving this goal in that health expenditure as a percentage of total government spending, excluding the public entities, is currently in the region of 13%.
In 2009-10, over 11% of the health budget was spent on HIV/Aids in the public health sector. However, this may be an underestimate, as it excludes the hospitalisation costs of people with HIV/Aids. The operations of the SA National Aids Council, Sanac, secretariat are currently funded through the national Department of Health's budget. In addition, provinces allocate funding to support provincial Aids councils and many municipalities support local Aids councils. It is difficult to quantify the total amount of funding that is spent on the functioning of the national, provincial and district Aids councils. The total amount of funds set aside in the national Department of Health's budget for Sanac operations for the 2010-11 financial year is R4,7 million.
Decisions regarding the Sanac programme of action and, therefore, expenditure are taken at many levels. At a strategic level, decisions are taken by the Sanac Plenary, which is chaired by the Deputy President and co- chaired by a member of civil society, currently Mr Mark Heywood. At an operational level, decisions are taken by the chief executive officer of Sanac, Dr Nono Simelela.
At present, the secretariat is working with the national Department of Health to determine its budget requirements for the next Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. The department therefore is a conduit for funds for Sanac until it becomes an independent legal entity with its own board.
Public sector HIV/Aids expenditure occurs at all levels of the health system: district, province and national. In addition, all government departments have programmes aimed at HIV prevention. These programmes are co-ordinated by the Department of Public Service and Administration on behalf of government, and the Department of Public Service and Administration represents all government departments as a sector in Sanac. I thank you.