The National Department of Health has published a National Environmental Health Policy for public comment in Government Gazette No 34499, 3 August 2011. (A copy was circulated earlier this month as an Advocacy Alert.)

Comments must be sent by no later than 30 September 2011, marked for the attention of Ms APR Cele, The Director: Environmental Health, Private Bag X 828, Pretoria, 0001 or to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The environment and environmental services

Environment means the surroundings in humans exist, including land, water and atmosphere, plant and animal life, and the physical, chemical, aesthetic and cultural properties of these elements that influence human health and well-being.

Environmental services mean the assessment, monitoring, control, correction and prevention of environmental factors that can adversely affect human health. This includes water-quality monitoring, food control, waste management, surveillance of premises, communicable disease control, environmental pollution control, malaria control, and air quality management, amongst others.

Objectives of the policy

It serves as a broad guideline for the effective implementation and rendering of environmental health services in South Africa.

The policy notes that neglected environmental health services have resulted in an increased emergence and re-emergence of diseases. Environmental health services are critical to successful prevention of diseases. A failure to provide adequate services marks a missed opportunity and the resultant service backlog is facing additional pressures such as climate change and others.

Environmental health issues are multi-sectoral, and the departments responsible include Environmental Affairs, Water Affairs, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, all of which have signed memoranda of understanding with the Department of Health.

The policy commits the Department of Health to further engage with the provinces, municipalities, relevant stakeholders and partners to develop an environmental health strategy document that will unpack the policy into operational activities for all spheres of government.

Further, provinces and their municipalities will develop the Provincial and Municipal Health Services Management Plans.

Major risk areas

The 6 major risk areas in South Africa are:

• inadequate access to safe drinking water;
• poor hygiene and sanitation;
• disease vectors;
• air pollution;
• chemical hazards;
• unintentional injuries.

Combating these threats through environmental health services is a key element of the new preventative health focus in South Africa.

Purpose of the policy

The policy’s purposes are to:

• expand environmental health services to reach all people;
• outline environmental health services;
• promote intersectoral collaboration;
• ensure environmental justice.

Goal: To ensure, for everyone in South Africa, an environment that is not harmful to health and well-being.

Strong local government role

There is an emphasis in the policy on aligning the environmental roles of all three spheres of government with the policy objectives. With regards to local government there is a strong emphasis on ensuring sufficient capacity at municipal level and aligning municipal health plans with municipal budgets and the national policy.

Prioritises children

The policy prioritises the protection of the environment to ensure the health of children, and imposes an obligation on families, communities and government to meet this obligation. The policy notes that the Department of Health has embarked on a national programme called Healthy Environments for Children, which targets improved environmental programmes in schools, play areas and households. The policy draws attention to the role of local government in the provision of child-care facilities as well as in the provision of basic services as environmental health opportunities to improve children’s health and well-being.

Advocacy opportunity to promote child well-being at a local level

The spaces and obligations created by this policy offer an opportunity to advocate for addressing some of the key causes of the high infant and child mortality rates in the country at a local level. Municipalities must be supported to ensure that their local environmental health plans and budgets prioritise the delivery of quality services such as water and sanitation so as to meet the needs of households with especially vulnerable groups, including infants, children, people with chronic illnesses, and women, to ensure a healthy environment capable of preventing respiratory and other diseases caused by environmental factors.

WEB LINKS FOR THIS ARTICLE

Click here to view the National Environmental Health Policy.