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South Africa, India collaborate to reintroduce cheetah in India

PRETORIA, South Africa and India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the re-introduction of Cheetah to the Asian country.

“In terms of the agreement, an initial batch of 12 cheetah are scheduled to be flown from South Africa to India in February 2023. The cats will join the eight cheetah introduced to India from Namibia during 2022,” the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said.

Restoring cheetah populations is a priority for India and will have vital and far-reaching conservation consequences, which aim to achieve a number of ecological objectives, including re-establishing the function role of cheetah within their historical range and improving the enhancing the livelihood options and economies of the local communities.

Following the import of the 12 cheetah in January, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years.

“The initiative to reintroduce cheetah to a former range state following the local extinction of this iconic species due to over hunting and loss of habitat in the last century is being carried out following the request received from the Government of the Republic of India,” the department said.

This multi-disciplinary international programme is being coordinated by the department in collaboration with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), South African National Parks (SANParks), the Cheetah Range Expansion Project, and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) in South Africa.

They will be working with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Reintroduction of Cheetah to India facilitates cooperation between the parties to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India; promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity built, to promote cheetah conservation.

“This includes human-wildlife conflict resolution, capture and translocation of wildlife and community participation in conservation in the two countries.

“In terms of the MoU, the countries will collaborate and exchange best practices in large carnivore conservation through the transfer of technology, training of professionals in management, policy, and science, and to establish a bilateral custodianship arrangement for cheetah translocated between the two countries,” the department said.

The terms of the MoU will be reviewed every five years to ensure it remains relevant.

Source: Nam News Network

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Children Denied Same Access to Treatment for HIV/AIDS as Adults

GENEVA — The U.N.’s main AIDS program says thousands of children are dying from HIV/AIDS because, unlike adults, they do not receive treatment for the deadly disease.

HIV/AIDS is no longer an automatic death sentence. People infected with the disease can live a normal lifespan, provided they receive treatment and care. Unfortunately, there is a glaring disparity between the way children and adults with HIV/AIDS are treated.

UNAIDS spokeswoman Charlotte Sector says 76 percent of adults have access to treatment but only half of children living with HIV are receiving lifesaving treatment. She says children account for 15 percent of all AIDS deaths, despite making up only four percent of all people living with the disease.

“Last year alone 160,000 children were infected with HIV,” Sector said. “So, what is happening is that 12 countries are coming together in Africa because six countries in sub-Saharan Africa represent 50 percent of those new infections.”

She says a global alliance led by UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF has formed to close the huge gap. She says 12 African countries have joined the alliance. Sector says health ministers from eight countries will launch the initiative next week in Tanzania.

“So, not only is it getting children on treatment, but it is mostly trying to stop vertical transmission,” Sector said. “Now what is vertical transmission? It is the mother passing on HIV during pregnancy, during delivery or during breast feeding because most of those transmissions are taking place during breastfeeding.”

Spector says efforts to contain the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa mainly have been centered on getting adults on treatment, as the main transmitters of the virus. In the process, however, she says the needs of children have been overlooked.

“So, what happens is suddenly there is a realization that we have forgotten all these children, and there is a forgotten generation of children,” Sector said. “So now, there has been a scramble to kind of close that faucet, if I may say, of getting to the children before they are even born or after they are born.”

The global alliance will run for the next eight years until 2030. During that period, it aims to close the treatment gap for pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women living with HIV, prevent and detect new HIV infections, provide access to testing and treatment, and end the social barriers that hinder access to services.

Source: Voice of America

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Health and Science and Innovation lead EU delegation on tour to vaccine manufacturing plants in Cape Town, 28 Jan

Government to showcase local vaccine manufacturing capacity to EU delegation

The Department of Health together with the Department of Science and Innovation will, on Saturday, 28 January lead the European Commission Delegation led by Commissioner Stella Kyriakides on a tour to the country`s vaccine manufacturing plants in Cape Town.

The tour is part of the government efforts to showcase the progress made by the country with regards to locally produced pharmaceutical products to enable the country and the continent of Africa to rapidly respond to morbidity and mortality resulting from vaccine preventable and manageable communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The government delegation will be led by the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo. This is part of a series of bilateral meetings and events organised within the Framework of EU- SA Ministerial Dialogue.

The Team Europe has committed to continue supporting the South Africa’s local manufacturing capacities and strengthen pharmaceutical systems.

Members of the media are invited to join the tour scheduled as follows:

Date: Saturday, 28 January 2023

What: Media Breakfast

Where: The Westin Hotel, Cape Town, Convention Square, Lower Long Street

Time: 09h00

What: Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines

Where: No 5 KestrelPark, Montague Gardens,

Time: 10h30

What: Visit to Biovac Institute

Where: No 15 Alexandra Rd, Ndabeni,

Time: 12h30

For Media enquiries, please contact:

Foster Mohale

National Health Department Spokesperson

Cell: 0724323792

E-mail: [email protected]

Source: Government of South Africa

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SA should learn from EU expertise, says Godongwana

It is critical for South Africa to continue to learn from the extensive experience and expertise that the European Union has in a number of areas and economic activities, says Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

This was especially the case in the areas such as vocational education and training.

This was reiterated by the Minister during a meeting with the European Union’s (EU) Commissioner for International Partnership, Jutta Urpilainen, who he met in Pretoria on Thursday.

The meeting, said the ministry in a statement, was to discuss the EU’s development partnership with the country, as well as other areas of cooperation and mutual benefit to South Africa.

Urpilainen was accompanied by a high-level EU delegation.

Her visit included the ceremonial signing of a number of partnerships, most notably the South Africa-European Union Multi-Annual Indicative Programme; the centrepiece of the strategic relationship between the country and the union, and an integral instrument in the EU’s support for South Africa’s development priorities.

“The EU as a bloc is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners and a significant source of foreign direct investment (FDI), with a number of EU-based companies involved in a wide range of economic and job-creating activities in South Africa,” said the Ministry.

Godongwana in the meeting acknowledged the positive strategic partnership, which stretches over two decades, which the country has built with the EU, and thanked Urpilainen for her consistent interest in the socioeconomic challenges faced by South Africa, and for the willingness to support the government’s measures to address them.

“It is critical for us to continue to learn from the extensive experience and expertise that the EU has in a number of areas and economic activities, especially in such things as vocational education and training,” said Minister Godongwana.

“Investing in and ramping-up the capacity of vocational and artisan training facilities will go a long way to addressing the unacceptably high levels of unemployment in our country. Producing a pipeline of skilled and knowledgeable technicians and engineers can contribute to addressing the energy crisis, and empower our working-age population with the skills and know-how to take advantage of the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

Minister Godongwana acknowledged the EU’s financial support for South Africa’s Just Energy Transition, via the International Partners Group of developed economies that in 2021 pledged US$8.5 billion to the country.

He however raised the concern that the JET partnership commitments have largely taken the form of concessional loans and other commercial arrangements. Minister Godongwana stressed the need for the financial support to include a much larger grant-funding component.

Source: South African Government News Agency

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Employment and Labour on transformation in the workplace

South Africa remains the most unequal country in the world – says Employment and Labour Inspector-General, Moiloa

There is very little to show in terms of transformation in the workplace in South Africa even after 24 years the country entered into democracy.

This is according to the Department of Employment and labour Deputy Director-General Inspection and Enforcement Service, Ms Aggy Moiloa.

Ms Moiloa was delivering a keynote address during the Department of Employment and Labour’s Employment Equity Breakfast Session at the Da Vinci Hotel in Sandton, Gauteng today (27 January 2023).

The purpose of the Breakfast Session, themed: “It begins with the will, desire and a decision to commit to transformation”, was meant to debrief and inform various stakeholders such as the employers and employment consultancy on the following:

Overview of Employment Equity and Transformation of Workplaces 2021/22 Financial Year.

Status of Compliance with Employment Equity

Employment Equity Amendment Bill 2018

And included an open discussion in relevant matters with concerned stakeholders in the programme

“Unfortunately 24 years later (since the enactment of the Employment Equity Act in 1998) EEA, when it comes to the area of employment equity, we have got very little to show in terms of transformation. All of us by choice or by default can be an activist for transformation. Our slight posture as a country, it surely really its ugly head even in the instance of pioneering and driving transformation,” said Ms Moiloa.

Ms Moiloa said compliance levels with EEA remains regretfully low and said that the low levels of compliance frustrate the intention of policy interventions.

“So the issue of non-compliance with the Employment Equity cushions and sustains unpalatable tendencies. South Africa remains the most unequal country in the world. Discrimination runs too deep. Transformation leaves a lot to be desired. The level of compliance is even more unacceptable,” Ms Moiloa.

Ms Moiloa said in the 2021 to 2022 financial year, the level of non-compliance in terms of the Employment Equity is at six percent of compliance and 96 percent for non-compliance.

The Breakfast Session was also attended by other speakers such as the Chairperson of the Commission for Employment Equity, Ms Tabea Kabinde, who presented on the 21st Employment Equity Report; Mr Mxolisi Yabo, Deputy Director: Statutory Services presented on the Employment Equity Amendment Bill 2018 and Advocate Fikiswa Bede, Chief Director: Advocacy Stakeholder Relations – who shared the status of compliance with Employment Equity by employers in the country.

Ms Bede told attendees that 860 inspections on Employment Equity have been conducted across the country from April to December 2022. However, only 12 employers were found to be compliant and 848 were found to be non-compliant.

“So, the levels of non-compliance really frustrate the intention of policy intervention which seeks to achieve transformation in the labour market and we have not seen it even if you check the Employment Equity Report,” said Advocate Bede.

Ms Moiloa also said that the Department has also started inspections of the JSE Securities-listed companies in South Africa.

Source: Government of South Africa