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Early Thoughts on South African Health Reforms 

I recently picked up The South African Health Reforms 2015-2020: The Road Ahead, I believe it is a white paper for decision makers and policy writers. It really is an interesting read, not what I usually read but it is still palatable. Big ups to AI, every now and then, when you get the chance, ask AI to suggest reads to you. It is brilliant what you can find when you keep perfecting the prompts.  As I am reading this paper I am learning a lot about the structural frame of the healthcare system and how it functions to serve this beautiful country. There is a lot that can be said about the state of the South African healthcare system some good some bad but there is a lot to be hopeful about from what I see. 

Now while I am reading the stats in this paper something occurred to me that for every statistic represented per 1,000 people in the province of Gauteng. These represent individual lives of people who have lost people, or are living with people who are disabled that's incredibly wild to think about. Like when a stat says there are approximately 5 million people living with HIV in South Africa. It sounds little compared to a country that has sixty something million people living in it. When I really consider that that’s 5 million people whose lives have changed forever. Now that's not to stigmatize HIV, living with HIV is very normal and the ARV programme is working wonders in SA. The emphasis was that for every statistic I read, that's a life affected and in many cases burdened, a new reality to deal with. 

I can only imagine the people who have to write papers like this when they are researching and evaluating them. Do they have to detach themselves from the numbers to get the job done or do they really consider what this means for many lives in and around South Africa? And what about the actual doctors who have to meet the patients and work with them through these illnesses? What about their mental health working at a hospital working hard day  in and day out, and having to go home and then relax and take a chill pill. Having to bear the weight of the world and then take it off when you take off your lab coat or your scrubs. That sounds brutal. Respect and honour to every single healthcare worker.