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JOHANNESBURG - The doctor praised for re-energizing South Africa's Health Ministry launched a major campaign Monday to get vaccinations and immunity-boosting vitamins to 3 million children across the country over the next two weeks.
Temporary clinics were set up and health workers were going door-to-door for two weeks starting Monday in the campaign aimed at reducing deaths from diarrhea, pneumonia and measles.
Health Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi joined teams of medical workers in a northeastern area, saying "It is of concern to us that our under-5 children are still dying from preventable diseases" in Africa's most developed country.
Motsoaledi, appointed in May, has earned praise for his willingness to listen, acknowledge the mistakes of the past and offer new ideas after taking over a ministry accused of failing - on AIDS in particular.
South Africa has an estimated 5.5 million people living with the HIV virus, the highest total of any country. As the epidemic raged, then President Thabo Mbeki, who stepped down last year after nearly a decade in power, denied the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, mistrusted conventional anti-AIDS drugs.
The leading international medical journal The Lancet devoted its latest issue to health problems in South Africa, noting it is one of the few countries in which the rate at which children are dying has increased in recent years. In an editorial last week, The Lancet said Motsoaledi had "ushered in a new and optimistic epoch for the well-being of South Africa's 50 million citizens."
The Lancet said the policies of Motsoaledi's predecessor, Tshabalala-Msimang, "not only led to the unnecessary deaths of over 300,000 South Africans (who were denied antiretroviral medicines), but also squandered much of South Africa's hope for enlightened post-apartheid government."
Motsoaledi has said of the previous government's stance on AIDS: "It was wrong, and it set us back 10 years."
UNICEF said the vaccination campaign Motsoaledi launched Monday was a first for South Africa, though poorer countries have staged such projects.
"Many children in poor and rural areas are still missing out on basic public health interventions that can prevent them from getting sick or dying from preventable disease," said Aida Girma, UNICEF's South Africa representative. "This campaign is an important way to reach these children."
