Abstract
COVID-19 exacerbates a long-standing health crisis in South Africa. Before the pandemic, health outcomes were worse than in almost all other upper-middle-income countries. The vast majority of South Africans have inadequate access to the social determinants of health, resulting in an enormous burden of ill health. The health services are unequally fragmented into a complex, predatory private sector and a largely dysfunctional, under-resourced, and demoralised public sector. The government’s policy to improve the health system by introducing a National Health Insurance is in limbo. Massive socio-economic inequality and a growing culture of corruption erode trust in the government and undermine the state’s ability to deliver services. Lockdown exacerbated inequality and joblessness and further undermined routine health care. “Disaster capitalism” and corruption linked to the lockdown aggravated distrust among citizens and the state. However, the pandemic galvanised civil society and stimulated creative citizen action from below.
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Reynolds, L. (2021). COVID-19 in South Africa. In: Akhtar, R. (eds) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreaks, Environment and Human Behaviour. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68120-3_18
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