SECTION27 believes in the power of the country's Constitution and is committed to helping realize it. We have led the fight for health and education rights for the past ten years and continue to do so through monitoring, advocacy, and litigation during the COVID-19 pandemic. With your support, our able team will be able to continue our work on sexual and reproductive health rights, school safety, universal health care, education for children with disabilities, and mental health during Covid-19.
Constitution states that everyone has a right to access health care services and to basic education. However, years of inequality, maladministration, and corruption have weakened health and education systems. As a result, millions of children do not have access to quality basic education and are faced with schools and school environments that are not safe or conducive to learning. Those using the public health system face challenges accessing medicines, cancer care and emergency medical services
Big gains have been made but there is still much work to be done to ensure equitable access to quality health and basic education in South Africa. COVID-19 risks eroding some of the gains of the past 25 years and reducing the power of civil society in the face of an increasingly inward-looking state. We will work with partners to ensure the health system is strengthened in order to save lives, and that the education and food security of children is not compromised during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sec27 has been able to ensure that school children in Limpopo have textbooks, that blind learners have access to Braille textbooks, that undocumented learners are able to go to school, access to abortion, and securing justice for the families of 144 mental health care users who died due to government neglect and more. With your help, we can continue our work to ensure that everyone in South Africa has access to quality basic education and access to life-saving and dignity-affirming health care.
