SECTION27 and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) today launch a conference report titled, Democracy & Constitutionalism: Civic Education Conference Report & Keywords. The conference took place at the historic Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg in February 2022. This report brings into focus Continue Reading
Over the past 4 years, SECTION27 and TAC have diligently monitored abortion service access in the Eastern Cape. Through interviews, facility visits, and interactions with the Eastern Cape Department of Health, we’ve identified numerous barriers: limited second-trimester abortion facilities, a shortage of trained providers and equipment, and high demand. This Continue Reading
Johannesburg 30 November 2020: Today, the HIV Policy Lab, a collaboration among academics, United Nations and civil society partners from around the world, publish the first ever Global HIV policy report. The world, according to the United Nations, is not going to reach the global HIV targets set for 2020. Continue Reading
TOWARDS SAFE AND DECENT SCHOOL SANITATION IN LIMPOPO
Children with extremely severe intellectual disabilities must be properly accommodated in the education system, they cannot be disregarded as ineducable or too costly to educate. This is according to the South Africa’s Constitution and a 2011 judgment of the High Court and reiterated in a SECTION27 report” Too Many Left Continue Reading
SECTION27 recently commissioned a case study on the Limpopo textbooks saga written by Faranaaz Veriava. “This publication documents the many facets of the case of Section 27 & Others v Minister of Education & Another (“Section 27 & Others” or commonly referred to as the “Limpopo textbook case”). It is Continue Reading
On 11 September 2013, SECTION27 and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) launched an investigative report into the collapsing health system in the Eastern Cape. The report is not about statistics and numbers but are stories from those at the coalface of the health system in the Eastern Cape – health Continue Reading
Thousands of people living with HIV and TB still risk death and drug-resistance in the Eastern Cape due to ongoing interruptions to their supply of life-saving drugs. A new report released five months after a coalition consisting of the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and SECTION27 first raised the alarm about the crisis at the Mthatha medical depot, paints a grim picture.
On Monday, 4 March 2013, SECTION27 and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) launched the “Monitoring Our Health Report”. SECTION27 and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) spent the past year interviewing and corresponding with doctors, nurses and patients who are at the coalface of the crisis in order to better understand Continue Reading
In early December, the Mthatha medical depot – serving more than 300 medical facilities in the North-eastern region of the Eastern Cape for medical supply needs – faced severe supply and delivery disruptions of life-saving HIV and tuberculosis [TB] treatment for over 100,000 patients. Stripped of 70% of its workforce due to suspensions in a labour dispute, the faltering management of the depot collapsed and critically compounded existing stock shortages at the depot, hospitals and clinics in the area. Orders had not been processed, supplies not received and, ultimately, drugs not dispensed to patients most in need. As a result, the danger of treatment interruption for HIV and TB patients was a perilous reality.
After Section27 and the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) received pleas for help from distressed health care workers on the ground and with the consent of the responsible health authorities, MSF and TAC started a coordinated response. MSF hired a temporary workforce and cleared the backlog of drug orders by coordinating stock reception, order processing and deliveries to affected facilities. TAC set up and maintained a drug stock-out hotline and monitoring network to help prioritise essential drug delivery to clinics. The Department of Health complemented the MSF/TAC intervention by sending three experienced pharmacists to assist at the Mthatha depot. Read the full report here
On 25 October 2011 the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, tabled the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) at a sitting of the National Assembly. The MTBPS broadly outlines Government’s proposed spending plans for the next three years. It also provides an opportunity for Government to make adjustments to this year’s budget to cater for changes in expenditure and provide for unanticipated expenses.
In 2007, 2009 and 2010 strikes took place in the public health sector which resulted in a serious disruption of health care services. Many users of the public health system were not able to access vital services or collect their medication. Earlier this year SECTION27 was approached by a number of concerned organisations, including Rural Doctors Association of South Africa (RuDASA) and the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) to assist in finding a resolution which recognises the right to strike and also protects patients’ rights and prevents loss of life or serious harm being suffered by patients during a strike.
