CANSA CEO Letter to Honourable Dr Mkhize

Minister of Health, Dr Mkhize – Image Credit: GCIS

31 May 2019

The Minister of Health
South Africa

Honourable Dr Mkhize

On behalf of the Board and Management of the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), I congratulate you on your appointment as the Minister of Health.

Your extensive experience and exemplary leadership demonstrated in your previous positions leaves us confident that you will excel in this portfolio. We applaud our President’s commitment to fight cancer in SA and to address the problems in our health system and believe that the trust he put in you will inspire you to strengthen the health system of our people, with the attention to services at all health care levels and ensuring equity in access to health focussing on services. We take this opportunity to emphasise the pressing need to fight Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD’s) and cancer in SA for cost-effective interventions for early detection and treatment with emphasis on access to oncology treatment and medicine. The need for addressing the health workforce gap is equally important as this is critical to early detection, referral for diagnoses and treatment of cancer as well as management in the community for people living with cancer and other NCD’s. This is all aligned with the recommendations in the 2017 World Health Assembly (WHA) cancer resolution.

We as CANSA and part of Civil Society stand ready to support and offer our expertise to the Government to reduce the burden of cancer through effective Universal Health Care. Our strengths lie in our wide footprint in all communities of SA as well as representation and collaboration on International Health and Cancer Control bodies.

Please accept our best wishes for every success and wisdom in fulfilling the important and highly responsible duties of your position.

Yours sincerely

Elize Joubert
Chief Executive Officer (Cancer Association of South Africa)