3 decades and 6 ministers: How is South Africa’s health-care system coping?

• In the past three decades, South African health has faced Aids denialism, TB battles, Covid and administrative scandals. 
• But the country also had big wins: rolling out antiretrovirals to millions of people with HIV, stricter rules about smoking, decriminalising sex work and making abortions safe and legal.
• There’s still a lot to tackle. Climate change is the biggest health threat of the century, we’ve not beaten HIV yet, TB remains the leading killer disease in the country, obesity is a big problem and service delivery is limping along.    
• In this month’s Health Beat, Bhekisisa looks back with those who’ve seen the struggles and solutions — and asks them what it means for the future of health care in South Africa. 

This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Sign up for the newsletter.