17 August 2009

The Inkatha Freedom Party said today that it feared that government was ill-prepared to handle the swine flu outbreak, following news that South Africa has now recorded its sixth confirmed swine flu death.

The IFP's health spokesperson said that it was imperative for government to become more active in tackling the spread of the H1N1 virus.

"As the number of people who have contracted the disease grows daily, we believe that government must step-up their campaign to educate South Africans on the symptoms of the disease and disease prevention. 

Education is the most important tool to stop the spread of the virus and it is very crucial at this point that government reassures South Africans that they have a plan in place to effectively deal with swine flu," said Hilda Msweli, the IFP's health spokesperson today.

Msweli said that she was particularly worried about poor South Africans.

"We know that it is always the poorest of the poor who are hardest hit when communicable diseases break out. Poor people, especially those living in rural areas are always disproportionately affected and they are the ones who have to rely on our dilapidated public health care services. We therefore urge government to speed-up the launch of its swine flu awareness campaigns across SA, especially in our rural communities, and to launch the planned swine flu hotline as a matter of urgency. South Africans must be assured that there is a real commitment from government to tackle the spread of this pandemic,"

said Msweli.

Contact:
Liezl van der Merwe,      083 611 7470.