South Africans will receive free access to health screenings, counselling services, measles inoculations and polio screening, during the Rotary Family Health Days (RFHD) that are set to launch on April 2.
The RFHD initiative aims to increase access to family health care services and will run over a three-day period from April 2 to 4, at 145 sites across the country.
RFHD will also provide families with HIV/Aids testing and counselling, tuberculosis (TB), diabetes, hypertension screening and other non-communicable disease services.
The initiative has enabled access to over 65 000 people in South Africa, since its inception in 2013.
At the launch event, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi will be joined by RFHD partners, including Rotarians For Family Health & Aids Prevention, Inc. (RFHA), The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, SABC, Caxton and PEPFAR partners, the Centers for Disease Control and USAID, to promote family health care and create awareness around the importance of health screening.
“As part of the Department of Health’s mission to improve the health status of South African citizens through the prevention of illnesses and the promotion of healthy lifestyles, we are proud to be a part of this initiative,” explained Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
“We aim to consistently improve the healthcare delivery systems in this country and we feel that RFHD is the perfect vehicle to assist us in this effort.”
Speaking about the 225 Rotary Clubs and their representatives at the launch, Marion Bunch, CEO of RFHA, said: “This is a great example of how people and organisations from different sectors of the community can come together to make a difference in the health of South Africans.
“The 4 000 Rotarians in South Africa mobilise the communities into action, and they select, build and volunteer at all the sites during the three-day campaign”.
The RFHD initiative is a unique collaboration between government, the private sector and civil society, to facilitate healthier and happier families.
Commenting on the private sector’s role in the partnership, Therese Gearhart, president of The Coca-Cola Company Southern Africa Business Unit, and board member of The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, said: “We believe in strong partnerships across civil society, government and business.
“This particular partnership makes sense to us and enables us to work towards achieving a common vision of a South Africa that has healthy and thriving communities.”
Because of the success of Rotary Family Health Days over the past three years, in multiple African nations, Rotary International has even produced a documentary of the programme.
Rotary International will broadcast the documentary to all its Rotary districts in over 200 countries worldwide.
