Health Legislation

This Act provides for the establishment and constitution of a professional Council for the pharmacy profession; determines the powers, duties and functions of such Council; regulates the registration of pharmacists and persons practising professions allied to the pharmacy profession; specifies the education and training and qualifications of persons practising such professions; prohibits the practising of any such profession without being registered; and provides for matters incidental thereto.

This Act provides for the establishment of a Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council; for the registration of medicines intended for human and for animal use; for the control of medicines and scheduled substances and provides for incidental matters.

The law creates a social public establishment called the “Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale” (National Social Security Fund). The purpose of the Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale is to manage the various branches of social security set up for workers, such as family benefits; prevention and compensation for occupational accidents and diseases; and old-age, invalidity and survivors' pensions. It is also responsible for managing the health and social action fund. It may also be entrusted with the management of other social security branches.

This decree establishes an autonomous fund to receive revenues from the recovery of primary health care costs in each Integrated Health Center. This fund will primarily support the purchase of essential generic drugs and consumables, the purchase of management tools for cost recovery and the payment of managers' salaries.

The Ordinance provides legislation governing pharmacy. The ordinance regulates the classification of medicines, the registration of medicines, the dispensing of medicines, dietary products, cosmetics, the rules for practicing the profession of pharmacist, the dispensing of medicines by doctors and other aspects.

This Act provides for the compilation and maintenance of a population register in respect of the population of Namibia, for the issue of identity documents to persons whose names are included in the population register; and for the matters connected therewith.

The decree creates a technical-administrative division known as a health district for towns, departments, arrondissements and communes. The Health District is the local level for the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health policy.

The order M°154/MSP/CAB of 29 December 1994 provides the structure and mandate for the Departmental Directorate for Health ("Direction Departementale de la Santé"); this directorate represents the Ministry of Public Health at the level of the department or the urban community and participates in the elaboration, implementation and evaluation of the National Health policy ( providing the competence of the Department Direction for Health). The subdivisions of this directorate include an Executive Secretariat; an Administrative, Financial and Personnel Management Department; a Family Health Service; a Programming and Health Information Department; a Health Education, Hygiene and Sanitation Department; a Health Education, Hygiene and Sanitation Department; a Pharmacy and Laboratory Department.

This Act extends membership of the medical aid scheme established for the public service under the Public Service Act, 1980, to members and former members of the National Assembly, judges and former judges of the Supreme Court and High Court, certain other office-bearers and other persons and to their surviving spouses; repeals section 1 of the Medical Aid Scheme for the Government Service Extension Act, 1982; and provides for matters connected therewith.

The Namibian Constitution was adopted in 1990 and amended in 1998, 2010 and 2014. The Constitution of Namibia is the supreme law of the country, it establishes state principles, defines the separation of powers in the state, defines rights and freedoms, etc. It consists of 148 articles that are grouped into 21 Chapters that are supplemented by 8 schedules.

The law determines which individuals have Nigerien nationality at birth as their nationality of origin. Nigerien nationality is acquired or lost, after birth, by the effect of the present legislation or by decision of the public authority taken under the conditions laid down in this law.

This Act applies the International Health Regulations, adopted by the World Health Assembly, in the Republic, and provides for incidental matters.

This law establishes an organization for the general litigation of social security matters, to settle disputes arising from the application of social security legislation and regulations, which by their nature do not fall within the scope of any other litigation.

This Act consolidates the laws relating to the registration of births, marriages and deaths.