The Department of Health is the executive department of the national government that is assigned to oversee
healthcare in South Africa
In South Africa, private and public health systems exist in parallel. The public system serves the vast majority of the population. Authority and service delivery are divided between the national Department of Health, provincial health department ...
.
The Office for Health Standards and Compliance was established in 2014.
History
In 1910, when the
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...
was established, healthcare professionals were almost unanimously in favour of centralising the administration of health under a minister of public health. At the time, healthcare was within the purview of the
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
, whose Minister at the time
Jan Smuts
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...
was uninterested in healthcare
and of the opinion that the government should not create any more departments.
The Public Health Bill of 1919 provided for a separate health portfolio but did not create a separate department; the resultant portfolio remained under the control of the Ministry of the Interior.
National Health Services Commission, 1942-44
As part of a "developmental agenda", a commission chaired by Dr Henry Gluckman was organised to report and advise upon "the provision of an organized National Health Service, in conformity with the modern conception of Health for all sections of the people of the Union of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
."
After exhaustive enquiries of all sections of the population, the Commission recommended that a new Health department be created.
The national government accepted this recommendation in February 1945, and in November 1945 the department became officially operational.
Apartheid
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
necessitated the fragmentation of health care into fourteen separate health departments representing the then four provinces of South Africa (
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...
,
Natal
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
,
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...
and
Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal.
* South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...
), and the ten
Bantustan
A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...
s.
See also
*
Healthcare in South Africa
In South Africa, private and public health systems exist in parallel. The public system serves the vast majority of the population. Authority and service delivery are divided between the national Department of Health, provincial health department ...
*
Health in South Africa
Health in South Africa touches on various aspects of health including the infectious diseases (such as HIV/AIDS), Nutrition, Mental Health and Maternal care.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that South Africa is fulfilling 73.4% of w ...
References
External links
Department of Health
Health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
Medical and health organisations based in South Africa
{{SouthAfrica-gov-stub