Partnerships for Healthy Communities

Nomalanga Makwedini (left), Eastern Cape HIV/AIDS Director, and Assistant Director, Mbulelo Khuto (second from right), with Myesha Jenkins and Ana Bodipo-Memba, SA Partners representatives.

Improving the health and well being of South Africa's most disadvantaged communities is essential if South Africa is to meet its goal of equitable and sustainable development. Since more than 80% of South Africans depend upon public health care services and information, improving health and well-being must include the establishment of a functioning public health infrastructure. This is particularly true in areas of the country that were previously excluded from adequate access to health care. In areas of the country where a public health infrastructure already exists, services must be expanded to provide equitable services to the majority population.

To support this work, SA Partners has established its Partnerships for Healthy Communities Program to focus efforts on strengthening health care infrastructure in the Province of the Eastern Cape, the most disadvantaged of South Africa's nine provinces. Specific areas of work thus far have focused on public health sector concerns as diverse as hospital management; pharmacy system development; women's health, including domestic violence; HIV/AIDS and STD control; clinical and epidemiologic research capacity development; and NGO capacity development.