Legislation: Parliament passes Public Health Institute Bill

The 2017 National Public Health Institute of SA’s ‘D’ version has been sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for signature, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. Incorporating a raft of amendments proposed in March 2019 (and apparently endorsed by the National Assembly’s Health Committee while criss-crossing the country, conducting public hearings on the National Health Insurance Bill), once in force the new piece of legislation will create a vehicle for co-ordinating and integrating disease and injury surveillance data. It is one of many lapsed Bills from the previous Parliament revived last year.

Focusing on ‘major health challenges’ facing the people of SA, according to a memorandum on the Bill’s objects the institute will also provide specialised public health services; make appropriate interventions; offer training; and conduct research. Against that backdrop, reference is made to occupational health; ‘injury and violence prevention’; ‘cancer surveillance’; field epidemiology; and environmental health. This is noting the need for ‘unified institutional capacity’ across existing ‘pockets of excellence’ in communicable and non-communicable diseases.