ANC Today --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 1, No. 39, 19 - 25 October 2001 --------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: * Letter from the President: Bridging the digital - and development - divide * Mortality statistics: Government crucified for wanting accurate information * Partnership against AIDS: National initiative marks its third year --------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Bridging the digital - and development - divide This weekend a critically important meeting will take place in our country. This is the first meeting of the International Presidential Advisory Council on Information and Communication Technology. The global corporate and other leaders who occupy the cutting edge in this field responded without hesitation to our request that they come together to advise us on this complex, dynamic and exciting area of human activity. As they arrive in our country, I am very pleased and honoured both to thank them for their ready willingness to help us, and warmly to welcome them to our country. The mandate of the Council is very wide, covering all the major elements of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. We framed it in this way because, as government, we are determined to ensure that our country moves as speedily as possible onto and into what has been described as the information super-highway or the information society. However, this sector is characterised by great dynamism, resulting in rapid changes in technology and therefore constantly expanding possibilities in the applications of this technology. It is vital that as we transform ours into an information society, we keep pace with the inevitable technology and applications advances. The members of the Advisory Council are very well placed to ensure that we achieve this objective. Of course, our first task is to close the digital gap that already exists between the developed world and ourselves. As we carry out this task, we cannot seek to tie our country to outdated technology as this would guarantee that we further widen this digital gap. Once more, this emphasises the importance of the role of the Advisory Council in terms of the choices that we must necessarily make. Much of contemporary discussion about human society focuses on the issue of globalisation. Although there is a considerable amount of controversy about this matter, there can be no doubt that the global integration of human society is moving ahead with some speed. Globalisation is a fact of life. It is equally true that while we may thus talk of an emerging global village, we have to contend with the reality that this village is divided between the haves and the have-nots. Indeed, the very formation of this village carries the cost of the impoverishment of large areas of the village. ICT is both a cause and a manifestation of this impoverishment -hence the reference to a digital divide. Within this context, we must however recognise the fact that ICT is a major factor in the process of global integration. Material factors such as the internet, satellite telephony and broadcasting, mobile telephones, e-mail communication and computers are all part of the ICT environment. There is no prospect that humanity will walk away from all this technology, whatever the controversy about the process of globalisation as a whole. This ICT also has many important implications in terms of its applications. It has particularly important implications for us who belong to the developing world. The reality is that this technology would be of the greatest benefit to us, the developing world, if we had access to it. For example, it would enable us to step up our campaign to educate as many of our people as possible. We would do this through distance education, using ICT. The Internet is an extra-ordinarily well-endowed library. Thus it is an important tool in our effort to realise what is contained in the Freedom Charter, that the doors of learning and of culture shall be open to all. This is especially so for us, given the deficit we still experience in terms of library services. Strangely, there are some in our country, who consider themselves as educated, who pour scorn on the use of the Internet as the excellent library that it is. Further to this, with access to ICT, we would also be able to make an important impact on improving the health of our people, by relying on tele-medicine, which is the use of ICT by medical workers to diagnose and treat diseases. This would, for instance, reduce the need for us to transport patients from district hospitals to referral hospitals when, as we know, we have a shortage of ambulances and rural roads that are not suitable for transporting people who are very ill. Our government is also working on e-government, the use of ICT to improve service delivery and the efficiency of government. The country is also involved in a discussion of e-commerce, which involves the application of ICT in our economy. This requires that we formulate the correct policies in this regard. Our most innovative business people are already using ICT to improve their operations and their competitiveness. Further work will have to be done to expose as many of our business people as possible to the benefits of ICT. This must include even people involved in small business. We have identified only some of the applications of ICT relevant to our continuing struggle for the reconstruction and development of our country. Resort to these applications should, however, be informed by firm and educated policy positions that the government and our country adopt. At the beginning of this year, February 2, our people convened at our 2nd National Telecommunications Colloquium. As she opened the Colloquium, Minister of Communications, Ivy Matsepe, said: "The national priorities demand that we contextualise South Africa - it is a country where the economic and digital divide are a reality and not a dream. It is a country located in an underdeveloped region of an under-developed continent. Policy cannot ignore this painful reality. Policy must instead assist in unlocking that potential of ICTs which in turn unlocks the economic potential of the country and the region. Policy must address the redistribution of wealth and access to those who had been marginalised or excluded. "We must bridge the gap between urban and rural communities, between blacks and whites and the digital literacy gap. We cannot ignore the role of women, youth and differently abled people. The colloquium must address this in considering the recommendations. What policy would best facilitate access to the Internet for all schools to communicate irrespective of where they are, while paying specific attention to rapid technological changes that must make South African business competitive. Our efforts to bridge the divide is primarily about people and not primarily technology." The Minister went on to cite a correct statement made by Hewlett Packard (HP), one of the main players in this field, whose CEO is a member of the Advisory Council. HP said: "It's about delivering economically self-sustaining solutions that offer fair value to all participants, respect culture, and preserve and enhance the environment needing extensive partnership and not just unilateral action." To give effect to all these policy positions, Minister Ivy Matsepe and the rest of our government have elaborated policies that address issues of universal access and universal service. This means that we must also focus on such matters as affordability, the promotion of local content and therefore the use of our languages, and local participation in the control and use of information and communication facilities. In this regard the government has set some ambitious targets. These include ensuring that by the year 2005, every community has a telephone within 10 minutes of walking time from every household and similar access to an information centre in which there should be available the Internet, standard computer applications and possibilities for training in the use of the equipment. All this points to the need rapidly to establish the necessary infrastructure on which to base the ICT. We refer here specifically to electricity, telephone lines and transmitters for mobile telephones. All this indicates the scale of the work that must be done so that we succeed to close the digital gap and transform ourselves into an information society. In this context, we must mention the fact that, without doubt, it would be impossible for the public sector on its own, to generate the huge resources required to realise the revolution in infrastructure that we are talking about. That revolution has to take place essentially in the historically black urban and rural areas, which are our own domestic Third World, relative to the historically white First World. Accordingly, any policy that would deny us the possibility to bring in private sector finance into this important work, designed to leapfrog the underdeveloped areas of our country into the 21st, African century, can only result in the further entrenchment of that underdevelopment and poverty. We must also make the observation that some argue that it is wrong to spend scarce resources on ICT while the masses of the people suffer from hunger, ignorance, disease, poverty and underdevelopment. The point however is that this technology is a powerful instrument precisely in the struggle against these ills. In the speech we have quoted, Ivy Matsepe made the critical point that "our efforts to bridge the (digital) divide is primarily about people and not primarily technology". Our success to get onto the information superhighway will depend on whether we train our people at all levels to master ICT. To realise this objective, among other things, we have to raise the level of consciousness among all our people to understand and appreciate the importance and relevance of this technology. This work must start with the very young, even at the pre-school stage. Some important initiatives in this regard have already been started especially by the private sector. Work is also going on to place computers in schools. The process of the transformation of our system of education, including teacher training, technical and higher education, must take into account the urgent imperative of putting our country on the information superhighway by raising our skills levels in ICT. What we have said about our country applies also to the rest of our continent. Accordingly, the ICT sector has been given priority in MAP - the New African Initiative. Our country will have to play its due and critical role as a bridge helping to facilitate especially sub-Saharan access to ICT. We cannot discharge this enormous responsibility unless we ourselves become a true information society. We are greatly privileged that we have the distinguished members of our Advisory Council to assist us to address both challenges successfully. Thabo Mbeki --------------------------------------------------------------------- MORTALITY STATISTICS Government crucified for wanting accurate information The South African government has been at the receiving end of a frenzy of accusations simply because it believes that accurate, detailed information about the main causes of death in the country is needed to effectively shape social policies and priorities. Since reports first appeared that an unpublished report of the Medical Research Council (MRC) on HIV/AIDS mortality estimated that about 40 percent of adult deaths last year were due to HIV/AIDS, the government has been accused of trying to conceal and even deny the true extent of HIV/AIDS in the country. The report, which was released by the MRC this week, used a statistical modelling system to estimate the number of deaths which could be attributed to HIV/AIDS and predict how the disease would affect rates of mortality in the future. While welcoming the report as a contribution to the ongoing effort to understand the effects of HIV/AIDS more clearly, Statistics South Africa, the body charged with the collection and analysis of official statistics, warned against accepting the report's findings uncritically. It was difficult to model the HIV/AIDS epidemic adequately or accurately with the information currently available, it said. It said the mortality rates in the report were estimates based on various assumptions rather than exact calculations, and pointed to the built-in risks of the kind of demographic modelling used in the MRC report. These concerns have been brushed aside by the range of parties, groups, media commentators, and even church and trade union leaders, who began demanding the release of the report from the moment its existence became public knowledge. The chorus of demands, accompanied by condemnation of government, paid no heed to whether the reports findings had been processed by the bodies responsible for the integrity of information released by government; whether they had been considered by cabinet; or even whether they were accurate or not. The value of the MRC report as a statistical tool has been overlooked by these critics in favour of its political value as a stick with which to beat the government and, in particular, President Thabo Mbeki. Very few commentators have addressed themselves to the deficiencies reported by Statistics SA, dismissing them instead as a government ploy to deny the extent of AIDS in South Africa. Statistics SA points to the lack of information available about HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Among the reasons for this is that HIV/AIDS is not a notifiable disease; there is incomplete registration of births and deaths in the country, particularly in rural areas; and the information received from women attending public antenatal clinics may not necessarily be representative of the public as a whole. Statistics SA said the built-in risks to the type of model used in the MRC report include that it may be based on incomplete and possibly inaccurate or unrepresentative data. It would like to "initiate empirical studies to be undertaken in the country which link life circumstances and living conditions of households, and attitudes and behavioural practices within them, to the prevalence of the disease." In the light of the difficulties of HIV/AIDS research, Statistics SA and the Department of Health have strongly supported an approach which draws together various studies and uses them in combination to guide policy and inform the public. This coordination should be done by the Interdepartmental Task Team on Mortality Statistics, which is comprised of Statistics SA, the Medical Research Council and the departments of health, home affairs and social development. "Contrary to insinuations in the media, the task team is not there to suppress information. But it does remain firm in its view that it has a responsibility to ensure national decision-makers can debate critical policy-shaping research before this is released publicly," they said. While there are valid concerns about the accuracy of the MRC report's findings, there is no denying the significant impact that HIV/AIDS is having on the lives of South Africans, and the massive challenge it presents for the country as a whole. Nor can it be denied that since 1994 the ANC-led government has been engaged, together with all sectors of society, in a comprehensive effort to combat the epidemic and respond to its effects on society. South Africa's ability to achieve progress in this effort will ultimately depend - not on politically-motivated hysteria - on the availability and effective use of accurate information about the nature and extent of the disease in South Africa. MORE INFORMATION: 'The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Adult Mortality in South Africa', Medical Research Council, September 2001 http://www.mrc.ac.za/bod/index.htm Comment on MRC study, Statistics SA and Department of Health http://www.gov.za/projects/aidspartnership01.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- PARTNERSHIP AGAINST AIDS National initiative marks its third year The Partnership Against AIDS, part of government's multi-strategy response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, recently marked its third year with a call by Deputy President Jacob Zuma for all South Africans to work together to prevent new HIV infections and provide care and support to those infected and affected by the disease. Launched in 1998 by then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, the Partnership Against AIDS was intended to ensure a broad-based and multi-sectoral response, based on the recognition that no single sector, ministry, department or organisation is solely responsible for addressing the HIV epidemic. The partnership compliments government's five-year strategic plan for combating HIV/AIDS and other STDs, which consists of four priority areas: · Preventing further HIV infections, through a combination of activities; · Treatment, care and support for those who are HIV-positive and those close to them; · Research and monitoring, including ongoing research into an AIDS vaccine; and · Asserting the human and legal rights of all affected by HIV/AIDS. Assessing progress, Zuma said most South Africans will have encountered aspects of prevention strategies that aim to promote safe sexual behaviour and non-discriminatory behaviour against people living with HIV/AIDS: "They will have seen the adverts and the street campaigns; the dramas on television and at schools and hostels; the free condoms in many expected and unexpected places." Estimates place AIDS awareness levels in South Africa over 90 percent. Less recognised features of the prevention strategy include ensuring easily available, good quality treatment for all sexually transmitted diseases in our free public clinics. The effectiveness of this intervention can be seen in the recorded decline in syphilis rates among pregnant women attending public clinics. Prevention also includes addressing the safety of blood available for use in transfusions and expanding the services available for people to test their HIV status and to receive supportive counselling. Research is perhaps the least visible of strategic priority areas, but it is funded and actively supported by government. This research covers many fronts, from the highly specialised research into AIDS vaccines, to the search for viable new approaches to treatment and care; to policy research and the kinds of surveys referred to above. Zuma said the face of HIV/AIDS in South Africa had become more complex over the past 10 years: "We are no longer only dealing with information and referrals, or pre and post test counselling any more, but with people who are faced with the challenges of living with the disease. We have to deal with issues of discrimination against people living with the disease and their families, and have to face other socio-economic effects of the disease." The concept of partnership involved expanding responsibility for managing the HIV/AIDS epidemic beyond formal health care settings and into various sectors and communities, he said. The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) leads a multi-sectoral strategy, which brings together different sectors of civil society and government, working to combat the disease at different levels, in true partnership spirit. Zuma praised the entry of the media sector into the partnership. The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) and Health-e news agency have become partners with the Department of Health and the Soul City Institute for Development to launch a booklet for journalists on reporting HIV/AIDS. "This was a crucial intervention as communicating HIV/AIDS continues to be a serious challenge in our country. We value the realisation of this by the media and their initiative in doing something about changing the manner in which the disease is reported. They have begun a process of sensitising journalists about, among other things, avoiding language that perpetuates stereotypes and which stigmatises those living with the disease," Zuma said. Zuma said the partnership had a vital role to play: "There are people here who have power, connections and influence, who can reach out to stakeholders and constituent communities. They also have the resources that can be powerfully employed to make an impact in fighting HIV/AIDS. At the same time, we all have families, friends, relatives and neighbours. Let us use these connections and resources to combat HIV/AIDS." He hoped that by the fourth anniversary of the partnership more stakeholders and sectors would have joined, and that co-operation in fighting the disease would have intensified. MORE INFORMATION: Partnership Against AIDS http://www.gov.za/projects/aidspartnership01.htm HIV/AIDS and STD Strategic Plan for South Africa 2000-2005, May 2000 http://196.36.153.56/doh/aids/index.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of ANC Today is available from the ANC web site at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2001/at39.htm To receive ANC Today free of charge by e-mail each week go to: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/subscribe.html