Apartheid and HIV/AIDS

The HIV/AIDS scare hit South Africa in the mid-90s which much later than most of Africa and definitely much later than the United States. Based on my discussions with the physicians, the causes might surround Apartheid, which technically ended in 1994.

Starting in 1948 and before the end of Apartheid, blacks and colored like Indians were required to carry permits with them 24/7. Without special permission such as work, they were not allowed in certain districts particularly in the affluent townships or cities. There were separate benches, buses, hospitals, and schools. The borders shut down immigration and migration. Even the young physicians that I work with in Benedictine clearly remember these days of segregation.

As a result, the wives and children stayed in rural areas while the husbands went to work in cities like Johannesburg doing mining for months at a time. The separation of husbands and wives caused males to seek out additional partners. Concurrently males did not use condoms. One physician explained to me that condoms became a symbol of Apartheid. That is, the blacks believed that the whites used condoms as a tool to stop the blacks from propagating. I am uncertain about the historical accuracy of this observation though.

Since the borders were closed up till the mid-90s and travel was limited for the blacks, HIV/AIDS remained in the rest of the world, but not in South Africa. Ironically when the oppression of Apartheid ended, the environment became an immediate breeding ground for HIV/AIDS. Neighbors from the nations above began the exchange of the virus. Unfaithful husbands without the use of condoms spread the virus to their wives. This begins the sad chapter of HIV/AIDS in rural South Africa.