Monday 24 March

SECTION27 makes submissions on the Competition Commission’s Draft Guidelines for Participation and Draft Statement of Issues

SECTION27 and its partners welcome the publication of the Competition Commission’s Draft Guidelines for Participation and Draft Statement of Issues for public comment. On 30 June 2014, SECTION27 made written submissions to the Competition Commission on both the Draft Guidelines for Participation and Draft Statement of Issues for the market Continue Reading

SECTION27 publishes the “SECTION27 REVIEW, April 2010 – December 2011”

“ … a great deal has been accomplished. But a great deal remains to be done … this journey has only just begun. Yet millions of lives depend upon it.” — From the forward by Vuyiseka Dubula, Chairperson of the SECTION27 Board of Directors

SECTION27 is pleased to announce the publication of the “SECTION27 REVIEW”.

The “SECTION27 REVIEW” is available by clicking “Read more” below, or by contacting Tummy Seboko (by email at seboko@section27.org.za or by phone at 011 356 4100).

The “SECTION27 REVIEW” reports on the work of SECTION27 from April 2010 to December 2011 and also assesses important aspects of the government’s compliance with its duties under section 27 of the South African Constitution. It features an introduction by the Executive Director, Mark Heywood, an organisational report, and essays by Mark Heywood, Adila Hassim and Jonathan Berger.

The 7th meeting of the BEMF

The 7th meeting of the Budget and Expenditure Monitoring Forum was held on 21 and 22 November 2011 in Johannesburg. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a clear picture of where South Africa is at in terms of its financing, budgeting and expenditure for the response to HIV/AIDS. Continue Reading

4th BEMF meeting: Understanding the IST reports

The Budget and Expenditure Monitoring Forum (BEMF) held its fourth meeting on 12 November 2010. It brought together over 30 people from 10 organisations. The forum considered the Integrated Support Team reports, the antiretroviral tender and the future cost of antiretroviral treatment in the public health system. The forum also heard updates on events in the public health system in Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Free State provinces. An update on the TAC/CEGAA community budget monitoring project was also presented.

IST reports on the state of the health system and the public’s right to know

More than a year after their finalisation and after many frustrated attempts by civil society organisations and the media to access them – including through the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 – SECTION27 and the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) have finally been leaked copies of all the provincial reports compiled by the Integrated Support Teams (ISTs). Up to this point, the only report we have received officially is a consolidated report available here. This report is important, but lacks the necessary detail to allow civil society to engage with different challenges in different provinces.

The IST reports on each province were commissioned by the former Minister of Health, Barbara Hogan, in response to the massive budgetary shortfalls that over-whelmed provincial departments of health (PDoHs) in the 2008/2009 financial year, which reached crisis levels when the Free State Department of Health issued a moratorium on the initiation of new patients onto antiretroviral treatment in November 2008. After civil society pressure, that moratorium was finally lifted in February 2009.

WDA