September marks Public Service Month - the theme this year is "Together Moving the Public Service Forward: We Belong, We Care, We Serve."
According to a recent Western Cape High Court judgment, children born in SA to foreign parents are entitled to apply for citizenship through the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995, even if they were born before the 2010 Amendment of the Act, which came into effect in 2013.
Air pollution kills 20 000 people in South Africa every year, costing the economy nearly R300-million. This is according to research from the World Bank. South Africa is also the continent's worst polluter due to the coal-fired power plants that still provide most of the country’s energy.
According to the Organ Donor Foundation of South Africa, as many as 4 300 South African adults and children are on waiting lists for organs and cornea transplants. However, the number of South Africans willing to donate organs remains critically low at 0.2% of the country’s population, owing to cultural and religious reasons. The majority of donations in South Africa are deceased donations with a small component being living donor transplants (e.g. kidney donors). The South African Medical Association (SAMA) says one donor can save as many as seven lives. For more information on organ and tissue donation, visit the Organ Donation Foundation website at www.odf.org.za
South Africa will conduct a TB Prevalence Survey to establish the true burden of the disease and ultimately strengthen TB control in the country. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), South Africa ranks among the 22 high burden countries. The Human Sciences Research Council (HRSC), Medical Research Council (MRC) and National institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) will conduct the survey. The 2017 TB prevalence survey will be held nationally with a representative sample of approximately 55 000 adults identified, sampled from 110 population clusters, and will take about 24 months to complete.
Reading statistics report from the South African Book Development Council show that only 14% of the South African population are active book readers and a mere 35% of parents read to their children.
By the end of June 2017, a total of 1 188 clinics in the public sector (32% of the existing stock of 3 477 primary healthcare facilities) achieved ideal clinic status. An ideal clinic is one with good infrastructure, adequate staff, adequate medicine and supplies, good administrative processes and sufficient bulk supplies that use applicable clinical policies, protocols, guidelines as well as partner and stakeholder support.
President Jacob Zuma has received the final report of the Commission into the Feasibility of Fee-Free Higher Education and Training in South Africa. The Commission was established in January 2016 following country-wide students' protests against high costs of higher education. President Zuma will study the report and its recommendations, as well as make it available to the public in due course.
