Dr Nomafrench Mbombo Biography, Western Cape Minister of Health & Wellness

Dr Mbombo is currently the Member of Executive Council (MEC) / provincial minister Health & Wellness in Western Cape, SA since 2015: the first female & black african to ever hold that position in the history of the province. She has spearheaded & successfully executed the following within her tenure:

Lead the Western Cape response to COVID-19 pandemic using a whole society, multi-departments, multi-spheres of government, multi-stakeholders and multidisciplinary approaches reaching ensuring principles in equitable access to resources is applied, thus leaving no one behind.

Presented as many keynote addresses at national & international conference platforms beyond health-related areas, on economy, gender equality, human rights & leadership. Recent one was Internal Nursing Council conference 2021 keynote speaking, the STTI Western Cape chapter, among others.

Lead the department on award winning cutting edge initiatives in Health technology & innovations, thus being the first (?only) health department first and only department on following: unique patient identifier, electronic prescription & electronic patient record; public accessible web dashboard on Covid cases reporting, on alcohol impact on emergency centres, mental health impact, and on violence & personal injuries impact on community; the robotic surgeries , building new 830 beds Covid digitalized field hospital within a month.

She changed her department’s name from the Department of Health to the Department of Health and Wellness as her department is striving to bring in more preventive & promotive health focus through community-oriented primary care (COPC) which is a slight shift from a hospicentric health system.

The only Health department receiving clean audits for three consecutive years 2019,2020 & 2021.

Dr Mbombo holds a PhD in Gender and Human Rights (UWC), Master’s Degree in Maternal & Child Health (UKZN) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing Science (UFH) and in addition to various other qualifications.

Prior her entry into politics in 2014 she was an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. During her academic career she made invaluable contributions to academia and these were widely published. Her overarching interest has always been in community empowerment as a conduit to reclaim the voices of the population at risk such as young women & girls, rural women, the LGBTQIA and the marginalized.

She has served then and made in in as many platforms, locally abroad including:

• National health ministerial appointment to the SA confidential enquiries on maternal deaths (Saving mothers).
• NEPAD (New partnership for Africa’s Development) delegations to African Union blocs to provide support on establishing postgraduate studies in maternal & child health for the countries health professionals in accelerating the reduction of maternal and child morbidities and mortality in Africa.
• United Nations sponsored initiative representing Africa voice in multi-country on technical paper on maternal mortality & human rights.
• She also chaired the Society of Midwives in South Africa.

Her leadership acumen has placed her in a strategic position where she has been of great influence, beginning 2022 she was honored with the prestigious Golden Key Award from the Golden Key International Honour Society recognizing the top 15% of academic achievers globally. She was born & bred in Mdantsane, a nurse and midwife, a mother, a grandmother, a womanist, a feminist, a community developer, a human rights activist and a nature lover…. A rock that leaves no one behind.

Her mantra: Where I am planted, I grow.

Know Your Minister of Health