SPOTLIGHT
Interview with Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi, minister of health, South Africa
What are South Africa’s greatest successes in health care? Our biggest achievement ever is increasing life expectancy from 54 years in 2010 to 66 years in 2024, because we put together the world’s biggest HIV counselling, testing and treatment campaign. We have also dramatically reduced maternal mortality: in 2010 there were 240 deaths per 100,000 live births; by March this year we have gone down to 109 per 100,000 live births. In 2004, 70,000 children were born HIV positive; we have reduced that to only 643. In 2010, when we planned this programme, there was an argument about how to finance it. Private health care, well funded through medical
What are South Africa’s health priorities for its G20 presidency this year? In our G20 presidency we have five priorities. The first is universal health coverage based on primary health care. Our overall presidency theme is solidarity, equity and sustainability. None of those can be met without universal health coverage, whereby people get good-quality health care free at the point of care and don’t suffer unduly. The second priority is pandemic preparedness and prevention, because we don’t want to repeat what happened during Covid. The third is human resources for health, which can be problematic especially in the Global South, whose doctors go to the Global North. The fourth is the scourge of non-communicable diseases, and number five is science innovation for economic development. These five priorities affect each and every country. Let’s take NCDs – no country can claim they are not a problem – even countries in Africa that face constant challenges from infectious diseases. Nor can any claim human resources are not a problem: either the number of trained health workers or the number of those who want to work in public institutions, or in particular regions. On pandemic preparedness and prevention, simply, pandemics don’t know any borders. They can start in one area and spread throughout the whole world. No country can say it is not interested in that. Universal health coverage is about healthcare financing. Countries may have more money for health, like the United States, but their method of healthcare financing does not help them achieve better outcomes. There are poorer countries, like Cuba, with better outcomes in child and maternal mortality, even overall mortality. That relates to healthcare financing. That’s why every country should look at universal health coverage, where everybody is covered, regardless of their social or economic status. Science innovation for economic growth also affects every country, especially in this era of artificial intelligence. How do we put that into health care, and how do we increase our research and development? How can innovations – that start from science and technology – help build the economy?
As South Africa holds this year’s G20 presidency, health minister Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi makes the case for universal health coverage as the foundation of equity, security and progress
Universal coverage at the heart of
global health
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Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World
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