Political Systems and Health Inequity: Connecting Apartheid Policies to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa’s transition to a post-apartheid government marked a new era of liberation and equality for black South Africans. However, the notions of white supremacy and racial segregation, ideologies of apartheid government, continue to hinder the South African government’s attempts to restructure its healthcare system. In addition, new economic drives toward privatization act as a new barrier to the achieving of equality in the South African healthcare system. The persistent inequality in the delivery of health care within South Africa is illustrated in the nation’s distribution of HIV/AIDS; black South Africans bear the highest burden of disease. This paper argues that the current inability of the South African government to adequately address the HIV/AIDS epidemic is symptomatic of still-existing apartheid ideologies in the healthcare system, faulty public-private relationships, and structural gaps between health policy making and implementation.