Health care equity - what does it mean for South African nurses?

Abstract

It is official. The gap between rich and poor in South African is getting wider (worse) and is the highest (worst) in the world. When I heard this bad news in a recent church sermon, I thought that I had better check the minister’s facts. Perhaps this man of God had not really understood these worldly matters. Surely it could not be true in our “new,” albeit a bit tarnished, South Africa. Our wonderfully progressive constitution which outlines the right of citizens to access to: health care services, food, water and social security “including if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance.” As if by divine intervention, I did not have to wait long for confirmation, for at a SA Medical Association conference in August, the fact was revealed by a local healthcare economics expert. I was offering a great big apology for doubting the honourable man of the cloth, mea maxima culpa.