Food poisoning: Advocacy group blames authorities’ lack of will

If there were more environment health practitioners employed to service the country’s population of over 64 million, the outbreak of foodborne illnesses could have been avoided.

More than 20 children recently died while scores were hospitalised due to foodborne illnesses.

The (health) sector argues that sufficient numbers of practitioners to conduct continuous monitoring, evaluation and prevention could have prevented the spate.

‘No shortage’

While authorities maintain there is a shortage, Sihle Gwiliza, deputy president of an advocacy group tracking and compiling information on unemployed inspectors, said there was no shortage but lack of will from authorities.

“The list stands at 500 unemployed environmental health practitioners. We believe the number is well into thousands of graduates currently unemployed.

“This is concerning because those who are employed are overwhelmed. They cannot effectively manage due to being assigned to large populations,” he said.  

There are 1 712 environment health practitioners (EHP) employed, despite about 6 000 being registered with the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA). This is a stark contrast to the global standard; the World Health Organisation guidelines state there must be one professional for every 10 000 people. Based on its population, South Africa should have about 6 000, compared with the current 1 712.

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Scope of work

The scope of work for EHPs outlined under the National Health Act includes food safety, waste management, vector control (pests and rodents).

“Currently one practitioner often serves over 20 000 people because many graduates remain unemployed. The lack of EHPs is clearly impacting the safety and management of spaza shops, but the issue is broader.

“They are supposed to be stationed at all ports of entry to prevent illegal, counterfeit and unsafe products from entering the country. At municipal level, they should routinely inspect, monitor and enforce compliance in food safety among other areas of environmental health.

“This all requires manpower and consistency – it is not a one-off exercise as we are seeing,” Gwiliza said.

Environmental health falls under preventive healthcare, which focuses on avoiding public health crises. However, the group argued that government prioritised curative health care, leaving preventive measures underfunded and unrecognised.

Unemployment

Thando Masebeni, who has been unemployed for four years, said unemployed practitioners paid HPCSA registration fees of R1 800 per annum, hoping for employment.

“When I was doing my community service in 2020, I worked with physiotherapists, nurses, pharmacists and radiographers.

“They all immediately acquired permanent government employment, not me – the environmental health practitioner,” she said.

According to Masebeni, the government did not prioritise preventing environmental health-related issues.

“The president’s response to the food safety crisis was to deploy police and army officials, who know nothing about food safety, instead of inspectors trained for the job.”

Testimonial

Another unemployed graduate echoed the same concern about the profession being undermined: “Imagine working in a massive township like Soweto, each shop requires thorough checks to ensure compliance with food safety and building standards.

 “Some shops even double (up) as living spaces, which creates additional hazards. But with one person responsible for so many inspections, it compromises the quality of the work.” She added: “We are consistently disregarded. If you look at past outbreaks [like] listeriosis, Covid, or any other health crisis, there’s always the same call for EHPs to step in.

“We exist, we are trained, and we are ready to work, but we are not recognised.”

Gwiliza said to address this issue, municipalities must be mandated to recruit EHPs based on population size.

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