Africa Update: With the National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot programmes already being rolled out in some of South Africa's major cities, the government says the country's health infrastructure remains a priority. The country's health sector received R133.6-billion from the 2013 National Budget tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in Parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday. Gordhan said some of the money would go towards ensuring the completion of some 1 967 health facilities and 49 nursing colleges which he said were in various stages of planning, construction and refurbishment.

allAfrica.com: South Africa: More for Health As NHI Pilots Roll Out: "More than R800-million was to have been allocated for the scale-up of the provision of antiretroviral treatment. However, the Treasury says an additional budget allocation of R100-million in 2014/15 and R384-million in 2015 will be necessary to partly address the announced decrease in funding over the medium term from the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

This programme has contributed roughly R4-billion a year towards the South African national HIV/Aids and tuberculosis response, but the amount is likely to decrease by 50 percent over the next five years.

However, Gordhan said there had been progress in the reducing mortality and improving the countryÂ’s HIV and TB programmes, with medical and nurse training capacity proving a success."

read more at:  http://allafrica.com/stories/201302280206.html

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