Essentially, the Pillars of the EFF Healthcare policy are: Prevention and Safety

No system, product or treatment may unduly cause harm, or be enforced on any individual seeking assistance, without full disclosure and presentation of options, with the absolute sovereign right of any individual to refuse such options and elect to search other options without fear, rejection or intimidation, being held inviolable.  

Any professional or operative within the Health or Food system who is aware that the system, methods, compounds, production processes or techniques are inappropriate to preserving health, are hazardous, or are suspected to cause harm without benefitting the recipient of the treatment or product, will be held accountable. A sound, humanistic and environment friendly health policy places high above all, emphasis on the following basic principles.

a) Efficacy

Any system, method, protocol, substance, formulation or related intervention must be demonstrated by the effecting party to have reasonable efficacy, and shall not be designed solely for maintaining states of chronic diseases. Any intervention, which merely prolongs states of disease without resolving the causative factors, is useless and will be phased out of the healthcare system.

No intervention which spawns further health problems will be permitted as a procedure or protocol, unless there is specific independently proven demonstration that the benefit of the intervention greatly exceeds the hazards of the interaction or system, and that such an intervention is used only for immediate preservation of life while the underlying causes of the disease state are resolved.

Any intervention must by definition have an End-point: the stage at which the diseased or injured person has been restored to health. The strategies for achieving this End-point must be clearly demonstrated by the purveyors of the intervention, system or products.

The onus of incontrovertible proof will vest with the applicant (manufacturer, producer, IP-owner), and will be subject to verification by the Health Systems Evaluation division in the future EFF Government.

b) Access and Expansion of Infrastructure

Every South African shall have access on an equal basis to quality medical care systems and infrastructure expansion. By instituting a new focus on genuine preventative measures through cleaner environments, improved nutrition and reduction in hazardous materials, funding can be released to improve facilities and infrastructure, and to implement effective Primary Healthcare systems.

The system of Primary Healthcare must be effectively implemented in order to provide first-line local access to healthcare, information, knowledge and basic nutrition products.

c) Humanity

At all levels and phases throughout the Healthcare system and infrastructures, the right to Human Dignity, Respect and Sovereignty will be paramount. The current statuses in South Africa and global healthcare systems have lost sight of the humanity paradigm, and have reduced the affected individuals to a status of mechanical objects and statistics. This loss of Humanity must be addressed in the training and preparation of all healthcare workers and professionals as part of their licensing terms and conditions.

Nutrition is far broader and more pervasive than adequate volumes of foods, even of safe foods. Safe food, free from health-destroying compounds or processes, and containing optimal levels of natural nutritional substances, are achievable through good agricultural practices, good production practices, and fortification with natural minerals and plant extracts where appropriate.

Agricultural practices shall ensure the safest methods for growing, harvesting and processing harvests, and through good agricultural practices, deliver the best nutritional standards for all foods produced on the lands. The national food-security schemes can be parallel driven through the Primary Healthcare networks.

Organic and Conservation Agriculture growing systems are considered to be the only viable and sustainable systems for producing high nutrient-content foods, and reduction in toxic loads in the environment and in the food products.

Genetically Modified Organisms are deemed to be a destructive anathema, and will be removed from the South African agricultural and food production systems. Food producers who include GM content in their products will be fined, warned and then closed down if they fail to address their problematic production processes.

There is a direct causative link between GMO, agricultural poisons, staple-foods contamination and the rise in National chronic disease states, without accountability vesting in the producers or manufacturers. This as a matter of urgency must change, and full legal and financial accountability must vest with these parties, who shall also be liable for the damages and suffering of the afflicted people, the costs to the National Treasury for the medical management of these diseases, and the massive damage to the environment caused by the growing of GMO crops.

Accountability and liability vests in the owner, grower, producer, manufacturer and packers of any products intended for public consumption or usage, or that would impact on the human and natural environments, for the accurate and comprehensive detailing of all substances in the production, product, device, artifact or system.

No substance or artifact may be produced which contains any of the Prohibited Substances, or uses any of the Prohibited Substances during the growing, producing or manufacturing processes.  Failure to accurately disclose the contents of a product constitutes willful deception, and will be subject to corrective or related measures, in accordance with the severity of the breach of the non-disclosure and the impact that this non-disclosed information would have on the health of the users or consumers, and their constitutional right to know before making use of the product.

f) Environment

The health of a nation is inseparable from the health of the environment. Achievement and maintenance of health is not possible in a toxic or contaminated environment. The human and environmental hazards relating to the growing of GMOs are so serious that these products are prohibited at every level, including their usage in the Pharma-drug dealership.

By efficiently instituting the Primary Objective, the pressure is lifted off the Secondary Objective, thereby facilitating improved services, infrastructure and access for those who require Trauma services or for medical help relating to non-preventable or urgent health challenges.

 

EFF Health Systems will ensure good health on equal terms for the entire population meaning provision of health care service according to the people’s needs not according to ability to pay constitutes a fundamental departure from the current system based on privatization and commodification of healthcare services. In this way, Healthcare is declared to be far greater than the mere absence of disease but enhancer of good quality, healthy life.

The EFF Health policy incorporates proactive measures to promote good public health through sound nutrition, freedom from hazardous chemicals, safe foods and drinks, disease prevention and health promotion strategies.

These components include effective management of communicable diseases, improved eating habits, physical activity, and education relating to the dangers of alcohol, narcotics, doping, tobacco and gambling addictions.

The core underlying emphasis in the National Healthcare Policy, vests in the empowerment of people and the freedom of informed choice.

1. 
   Political and Socio-Economic determinants, and specifically the challenge of Poverty
   
2. 
   Public policy to encourage participation and influence in Society
   
3. 
   Secure and favourable health conditions during Childhood, Adolescence and Retirement
   
4. 
   Lifestyle determinants. Reduced use of tobacco and alcohol, a society free from illicit drugs and doping and a reduction in harmful effects of excessive gambling
   
5. 
   Socialising and Empowering determinants
   
6. 
   Individual as well as Collective interventions
   
7. 
   Increased physical activity and good eating habits
   
8. 
   Social and Demographic conditions and determinants
   
9. 
   Working life interventions – a healthier and safer working environment
   
10. 
    Environmental and Consumer Protection interventions – towards healthy and safe environments, food and products
    
11. 
    Health-care interventions and services must promote health and wellness, as opposed to merely managing diseases.
    

The EFF ahead of 2014 national and provincial election unveiled its election manifesto. Under the section dealing with provision of quality social transformation, development and welfare services, the manifesto proposes the following as key pillars for a thoroughgoing healthcare transformation in South Africa. That:

1. 
   Healthcare system based on a massive training of professional and community Healthcare Workers and Practitioners is a priority
   
2. 
   Building a State-owned Pharmaceutical Company to produce medicines and distribute them to hospitals and clinics
   
3. 
   Massive production of essential generic medicines without regard to intellectual Property Rights regime
   
4. 
   Provision of healthcare facilities are made available to all communities through clinics, hospitals and community based healthcare workers
   
5. 
   Ensure that hospitals and healthcare institutions are run by medical practitioners with adequate administrative experience
   
6. 
   Working hard towards the realize a 0% HIV infection in South Africa
   
7. 
   Government to produce and distribute free sanitary towels to poor rural women and girls
   
8. 
   Ensuring that Traditional Healers are recognized and fully incorporated into the healthcare system
   
9. 
   Reopening all nursing colleges to training and reskilling of nurses
   
10. 
    Government to pass legislation which will compel mining companies to compensate all mineworkers who suffer from TB related diseases
    
11. 
    Government to compel the private healthcare sector to contribute more towards the national fiscals in order to ameliorate the public healthcare sector from current financial crisis through cross-subsidization.
    

The main components of the EFF national health policy are underpinned by:

• 
  Thorough evaluation of the political, economic, social, and cultural determinants of health;
  
• 
  The lifestyle determinants, which have been the most visible types of public interventions; and
  
• 
  The socializing, educational and empowering determinants, which link the first and second components national health policy: the individual interventions and the collective interventions.
  

Public health is an interdisciplinary scientific field involving the study of the importance of various factors for the population's health, the effects of political measures and the impact of public health on the economy and on society as a whole and the impact on various groups in the population. A multi-disciplinary working method is important and central to the success of long-term, effective public health status.

 

Framework for Funding EFF National Health Policy

Two distinct aspects of Healthcare form part of the EFF Health Policy, and are planned along a 50-50 allocation of resources.

The proactive health building principle is based on Eastern, Nordic and Cuban systems, in which the sound maintenance of genuine Health, and prevention of chronic health disorders, results in a minimal degree of the population requiring conventional medical treatments for unresolved diseases and trauma interventions. This change in healthcare paradigm alleviates the massive over-burden on the formal South African healthcare systems, in which the escalating rates of diseases is leading to a collapse in the public medical facilities and infrastructures.

EFF proposes a two-pronged approach towards fiscal and resources allocation: Firstly, a 50% allocation for Preventative Healthcare directed towards building and maintaining good health status in the general population. This is achieved through improving the standards of nutrition, empowerment through education and information, quality of foods, natural nutritional supplementation, good water and sanitation, and freedom from harmful chemicals, denatured foods, and food additives. A major component of preventative health is the facilitation of growing household vegetables and fruits. This autonomy can be achieved through the roll-out of training, through school programmes, through community programmes, and the EFF Government provision of non-GMO seeds.

Secondly, a 50% allocation for Medi-Care System directed towards trauma management (accidents, serious assault or life-threatening injuries), prescription drugs, chronic and acute illness which have become pervasive enough to warrant accessing formal facilities and Pharmaceutical drugs, and Healthcare facilities such as Hospitals, Clinics, Hospices.

EFF envisages a government’s policy framework especially pertaining to the national health insurance the one that provides a bold step toward the provision of universal access to primary healthcare system in South Africa. If this line is pushed, future governments will succeed in providing equitable healthcare to all. The healthcare service in South Africa is threatened not by a growing demand to socialized and a need for centrally planned healthcare system, but by a growing greed of the rich and wealthy who are not prepared to share rather waiting to die due to opulence and over-consumption.

A new, better world order is possible, where health is a non-negotiable human right, which is in the hands of people. However, it ought to be fought for, built through conscious and collective efforts mobilized on a national, regional, continental and international scale by integrating more NGOs, civil society formations, churches, journalists, social and cultural organizations, trade unions, traditional and indigenous rural communities and other grass root social movements.

Pursuant to this, as a movement, EFF will have to:

• 
  hear the experiences of unheard people of different communities and professions living at different socio-economic and social conditions
  
• 
  assess the degree of healthcare facilities available provided by governmental institutions and private sector institutions
  
• 
  form or establish village health committees (VHCs) in rural areas and strengthen support to community healthcare workers (CHWs) in urban areas
  
• 
  assess capacities and understanding of the people on health care problems living in severe economic situations and poverty
  
• 
  evaluate sustainable process of healthcare system presently existing in the country
  
• 
  in addition to what is proposed in this paper, find possibilities of alternative health policies in the rural and urban areas affordable to ordinary working class communities.
  

1. Introduction to the South African Education System

All South Africans have the right to a basic education, including adult basic education and further education. According to the Bill of Rights of the country's Constitution, the state has an obligation, through reasonable measures, to progressively make this education available and accessible.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of public investment in education in the world. At about 7% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 20% of total state expenditure, the government spends more on education than on any other sector.

South Africa's National Qualifications Framework (NQF) recognises three broad bands of education: General Education and Training, Further Education and Training, and Higher Education and Training.

School life spans 13 years or grades, from grade 0, otherwise known as grade R or "reception year", through to grade 12 or "matric" – the year of matriculation. General Education and Training runs from grade 0 to grade 9.

Under the South African Schools Act of 1996, education is compulsory for all South Africans from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9.

General Education and Training also includes Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET), which is available to adults who want to finish their basic education.

Further Education and Training takes place from grades 10 to 12, and also includes career-oriented education and training offered in other Further Education and Training institutions – technical colleges, community colleges and private colleges. Diplomas and certificates are qualifications recognised at this level.

The matric pass rate, which was as low as 40% in the late 1990s, has improved considerably. A total of 511 152 candidates sat the matriculation exams in 2012, 73.9% of whom passed. This is an increase of 13.3% since 2009 (60.6%).

1. 
   Structure and responsibilities
   

South African Communist Party secretary-general Blade Nzimande is the minister of Higher Education and Training, while former Gauteng Education MEC Angie Motshekga oversees the Ministry of Basic Education.

The Ministry of Basic Education focuses on primary and secondary education, as well as early childhood development centres.

The Ministry of Higher Education and Training is responsible for tertiary education up to doctorate level, technical and vocational training, as well as adult basic education and training.

It also oversees public and private FET colleges, which cater for out-of-school youth and adults. The government aims to have 1-million students enrolled at colleges by 2014.

The split also saw the sector education and training authorities (Setas) move from the Department of Labour to Higher Education, aiming to foster a more co-operative approach to skills development.

The central government provides a national framework for school policy, but administrative responsibility lies with the provinces. Power is further devolved to grassroots level via elected school governing bodies, which have a significant say in the running of their schools.

Private schools and higher education institutions have a fair amount of autonomy, but are expected to fall in line with certain government non-negotiables – no child may be excluded from a school on grounds of his or her race or religion, for example.

The Umalusi Council, which is appointed by the minister of Higher Education, sets and monitors standards for general and further education and training, while the Council of Higher Education keeps an eye on higher education and training, including accreditation and quality assurance.

2. 
   School statistics
   

The latest available statistics from the Department of Basic Education show that in 2012 South Africa had 12 428 069 pupils and students (also known as "learners"), enrolled in public and independent schools (known as "ordinary schools), attending 25 826 educational institutions and served by 425 167 teachers and lecturers (also known as "educators").

Of the total enrolled learners, 11 923 674 (96%) were in public schools and 504 395 (4%) were in independent schools.

In South Africa, the average ratio of learners to teachers is 30.4 to one, which includes educators paid for by school governing bodies. Without those extra posts, the ratio would be 32.3 to one. In general, public schools generally have larger classes than those in independent schools.

3. 
   Higher education and training
   

A matric endorsement is required for the study of university degrees, with a minimum of three subjects passed at the higher, rather than standard, grade, although some universities set additional academic requirements. A standard school-leaving South African senior certificate is sufficient for technical qualifications and diplomas.

South Africa has a vibrant higher education sector, with 23 state-funded tertiary institutions: 11 universities, six universities of technology, and six comprehensive institutions. There are also new institutes of higher education, the Northern Cape National Institute for Higher Education, and the Mpumalanga National Institute for Higher Education.

Many of South Africa's universities are world-class academic institutions, at the cutting edge of research in certain spheres. Although subsidised by the state, the universities are autonomous, reporting to their own councils rather than government.

According to figures from the Council of Higher Education, 892 936 students (726 882 undergraduates and 138 610 postgraduates) were enrolled in South Africa's public higher-education institutions in 2010. Staff employed by these institutions numbered 127 969, with 46 579 of those academic staff.

In 2010, the public higher education institutions produced 153 741 qualifications at all levels, with 74 612 qualifications in the human and social sciences; 41 724 in business and commerce; and 37 405 qualifications in science and technology.

Higher education is also offered at private institutions, of which there are 88 registered and 27 provisionally registered with the Department of Higher Education to confer specific degrees and diplomas.

Since 2009, the Department of Higher Education and Training has also been responsible for Further Education and Training (FET), which covers training provided from Grades 10 to 12, including career-oriented education and training offered in technical colleges, community colleges and private colleges. There are currently around 450 registered FET colleges in South Africa.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was established in 1999 to make higher education possible for financially disadvantaged students through loans and concessions, such as not charging interest on student loans until 12 months after a student has graduated.

4. 
   Spending and challenges
   

Illiteracy rates currently stand at around 18% of adults over 15 years old (about 9-million adults are not functionally literate), teachers in township schools are poorly trained. South Africa's student participation rate – that is, the proportion of 18- to 24-year olds in higher education – is a low 16%. Equity has not been achieved: almost 58.5% of whites and around 51% of Indians enter higher education. The rate for coloureds is 14.3%, while blacks are even lower at 12%. The reason for this is poor quality primary and secondary schooling, as well as lack of money to finance the very expensive higher education in South Afrika.

A graphic view of the state of education in South Africa as compiled by Statistics South Africa incorporated into the 2012/2013 South African General Household Survey, as Section 4: