AIDS and apartheid: double trouble
- PMID: 12322403
AIDS and apartheid: double trouble
Abstract
PIP: This article discusses the impact of the apartheid system on health care and AIDS in South Africa. Statistics indicate grossly unequal health care services for Whites and Blacks. Black state hospitals are grossly overcrowded, underserviced, and poorly equipped and financed, while Whites served by the state health services enjoy a doctor-patient ratio of 1:330 and a nurse-patient ratio almost 700% better. According to the state-published South African Yearbook, the impact of this situation is reflected by the relative life expectancy of Blacks (58.9 years) versus Whites (73.2 years). Meanwhile, in the context of AIDS care in South Africa, White patients receive state-of-the-art intensive care unit and AZT treatment in the well-funded White patients¿ hospitals and most pay little or nothing for the service. In contrast, the state's response to the AIDS problem in the Black community is described as irresponsible and ineffectual, wherein apartheid regime is clearly illustrated. In conclusion, since one of the big problems in South Africa is the Black population explosion, it cannot fight AIDS effectively unless it fights the rigidly entrenched inequities of apartheid health care services.
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