Building a shared clinical language for the South African health system
LONDON, UK & PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – May 14, 2026 – South Africa, a country of more than 63 million, has joined SNOMED International, taking a major step forward toward realizing its digital health strategy.
SNOMED International is a Member-driven, not-for-profit organization that owns, develops and maintains SNOMED CT, the world’s most comprehensive clinical terminology. The organization works globally to enable consistent, high-quality health information exchange, improve clinical decision-making, and accelerate digital health transformation.
The decision follows the country’s 2024 announcement that it would introduce new health terminological systems and classifications for use within the national health information system, including SNOMED CT, alongside other international standards.
Ms Milani Wolmarans, who has led this work from the National Department of Health, notes that "South Africa's membership of SNOMED International marks an important step in our digital health journey. A shared clinical language across our public, private, academic, and civil society sectors will support better-informed clinical decisions, more reliable health information exchange and improved patient care. We look forward to contributing to, and learning from, the international SNOMED community."
SNOMED CT complements South Africa’s standards implementation roadmap and supports detailed clinical documentation and semantic interoperability at the point of care. The Director-General of the National Department of Health has gazetted the intention to introduce a set of health terminological systems for use in electronic health records and health information exchange, including SNOMED CT alongside complementary classifications from the WHO Family of International Classifications.
South Africa's membership extends SNOMED CT access across all health sector entities, including public and private providers, academic, research, and civil society institutions. The country’s National Department of Health is establishing a SNOMED CT National Release Centre and a National Terminological Mapping Service; the Department of Health Clinical Coding Advisory Technical Working Group will co-ordinate implementation.
SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete describes the announcement as a significant milestone not only for South Africa, but for the broader African region. “While it is the first country from the region to adopt SNOMED CT, it builds on a number of past initiatives, including earlier engagement with SNOMED CT within South Africa,” Don says. “By joining SNOMED International, South Africa is taking a leadership role in advancing interoperable, high-quality health data, and we look forward to supporting the country’s digital health strategy and to strengthening collaboration across the entire continent as SNOMED CT adoption continues to grow.”
South Africa joins SNOMED International with a clear sense of the work ahead, and looks forward to building shared clinical information practice with the organization’s Member countries around the world.
Media Inquiries:
SNOMED International
Kelly Kuru
Email: comms@snomed.org
National Department of Health
Email: coding@health.gov.za