Despite the dire state of public health facilities, and the chronic shortages of both staff and equipment – because of “budgetary” factors – and the compounding issue of the massive gaps triggered by the US funding crisis, the National Health Department is pressing ahead with a costly advertising campaign.
The department is scrambling to find funds to fill the gap left by Donald Trump’s slashing of foreign aid, but Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Parliament there was so much “irrational and negative” propaganda against National Health Insurance (NHI) that the department was going to continue with the ad campaign, nevertheless.
He said no emergency funding had yet been secured from the Treasury to bridge the gap for services provided to NGOs in grants from the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) via the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The department had anticipated receiving R6.27bn from the United States in the 2025/26 fiscal year, reports Business Day.
However, “there is no intention to … end advertising for NHI and redirect that funding towards the funding shortfall”, the minister said in a written response to questions posed by Action SA MP Kgosi Letlape.
“Given the ongoing irrational and negative propaganda against NHI, the department believes it remains important to continue directing efforts towards providing accessible information that educates and empowers the public about NHI and the benefits of universal health coverage,” he said.
The department has set aside R65.9m for advertising NHI over the medium term, according to Treasury’s Estimates of National Expenditure.
But Letlape said public funds should not be used to persuade people of the merits of NHI.
“Advertising is when you use money to convince people of things they don’t need. Health (policy) is not something that requires advertising: it’s something that requires you to be rational and for society to buy into,” he argued.
The department had not responded to Business Day’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Letlape also asked the Minister whether the Health Promotion Levy – a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages – or any of the funds allocated to the conditional grants for NHI could be directed to HIV/Aids programmes.
Motsoaledi said he was in discussion with Treasury about effective and sustainable mechanisms to address the funding gap, and that there had been no decision to use revenue raised from the levy for this purpose.
On redirecting conditional grants, he added: “We … see no wisdom nor value nor any gain in shifting money from (one) group of patients to another. The conditional grants allocated towards NHI are for specific interventions.”
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