Press Release

(Cape Town, South Africa – Friday 2 December 2011)  Ikamva Labantu, one of South Africa’s longest-standing social development NGO’s, today launched the Enkululekweni Wellness Centre in Khayelitsha.  A new concept in community health management, the Centre forms part of the organisation’s community health programme which focuses on empowering communities to embrace preventative health as opposed to struggling with avoidable chronic and acute health problems.

Says Helen Lieberman who founded Ikamva Labantu in the 1960s and who still serves as the organisation’s Honorary President: “In addition to the difficulties accessing primary health care, the poor living conditions faced by township communities are worsened by a lack of basic health knowledge. The Enkululekweni (Place of Freedom) Wellness Centre, is a manifestation of our vision to reduce the burden of illness, disease and added suffering in township areas by empowering community members to manage their health and the health of those in their care.”

Ikamva Labantu believes that the Centre will be a best practice model for promoting health and wellness in impoverished communities, by providing services that address the unique needs of South Africa’s townships.

The Enkululekweni Wellness Centre will act as an all-encompassing preventative health care destination, promoting and educating caregivers and their beneficiaries about health-conscious behaviour, disease prevention and the vital role of nutrition, even with limited means.  It will not only offer much-needed basic health care support but also the opportunity to impart skills and knowledge that lead to independency and self-sufficiency.

“By incorporating a wide range of services and activities, and collaborating with other NGO’s and partners to deliver basic health services, dispense medication and offer patient referrals, the Centre will serve as a prototype for community health promotion, education, awareness and preventative health. It’s a prime example of what the Western Cape Provincial Government refers to as Health Care 2020,” says Janine van Stolk, Ikamva Labantu’s Director.

Western Cape Health Minister, Theuns Botha, recently explained his Department’s vision for Health Care 2020: “It is clear that there will be a shift away from government carrying all the responsibility for the health of its citizens, but that individuals will be encouraged and challenged to take responsibility for their own health.  Health and wellness is an all-encompassing state, and as a government it is our duty to ensure the efficient implementation of strategies and plans towards that goal. I believe that the path of wellness we have chosen is a path that challenges us, but it will lead to transformation towards a better life and action a healthier society with a higher level of satisfaction by patients due to a more pleasant experience.”

Absa Group Chief Executive Maria Ramos, who is also a member of Ikamva Labantu’s Board of Protectors, said in her keynote address that the Enkululekweni Wellness Centre epitomized the empowerment of communities to promote wellness and stop the prevalence avoidable illnesses.

“This fantastic centre is a dream come true,” says Ramos.  “It is a beautiful Wellness Centre for the disadvantaged community of Khayelitsha. Empowering communities to embrace preventative health as opposed to struggling with avoidable chronic and acute health problems is the key to ‘moving the dial’ in the public health sector. Giving people a chance to improve their health and wellbeing is the first step in enabling them to look after their families and to change their circumstances for the better.”

Other guests of honour included Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, Gaynor Rupert (Chairperson of Ikamva Labantu’s Board of Protectors), Richard van Rensburg (Chairman of Ikamva Labantu’s Board of Trustees) and several community leaders.

In September 2011, Helen Lieberman was invited to attend the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York where she announced the launch of the Enkululekweni Wellness Centre, as well as the launch of an Early Childhood Development Training & Resource Centre, as part of Ikamva Labantu’s CGI commitment to health and education development in South Africa. Ikamva Labantu’s Early Childhood Development Centre is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2012.

For more information about Ikamva Labantu, visit www.ikamva.org.za or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

ENDS

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Notes to Editors

• Ikamva Labantu is a South African non-governmental, non-profit organisation assisting and empowering vulnerable families and communities in township areas. The organisation traces its roots back to the 1960s and the apartheid era when Helen Lieberman and other community activists started working on addressing the severe lack of services and support for black communities. Today, Ikamva Labantu touches the lives of more than 25,000 people every day including over 1,000 children in 300 foster homes; more than 12,000 pre-school children in 200 under-developed day-care centres; and about 540 senior citizens in 17 seniors clubs.

• Ikamva Labantu’s programmes are focused on three main areas: community health; community learning and development; and community resources.

• These programs are interlinked to ensure that community leaders, teachers, parents, caregivers and families are empowered to find and implement solutions, with resources and guidance where necessary, enabling them to achieve independent and fulfilled lives for themselves, and for those whom they help and care for.

• The Enkululekweni Wellness Centre is the focal point of Ikamva Labantu’s Community Health programme, whose vision is to support better health and wellness in underpriviledged communities.  Through the centre our aim is to facilitate people taking responsibility for their own health and quality of life by encouraging health conscious behaviour, disease prevention, physical wellbeing, nutritional and mental health, as well as the management of HIV and AIDS.  Our strategy is to focus on the primary healthcare principles of health education, health prevention and health promotion, working in partnership with the Department of Health, other non-profits and Community Health Committees.