, who were black. This began to change as apartheid was being dismantled in the early 1990’s. In 1994, the Reconstruction and Development Programme set aside R14 million (rand) for improvements in health care.Tuberculosis is the most prevalent disease reported to health officials during the 1990’s. It was probably introduced by European settlers during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. About 90 percent of tuberculosis cases reported after 1970 were among blacks. Among the causes were overcrowding in urban housing projects and many tuberculosis patients didn’t continue treatment long enough. More than 6,000 people died of tuberculosis in the early 1990’s and more than 47,800 new cases were reported in 1994.Malaria is ranked second among reported disease and affects whites less than other racial groups. During the 1970’s and 1980’s there were 40.5 cases per 10,000 among blacks, Asians, and people of mixed races. In 1994, health officials reported 4,194 cases of malaria nationwide. Some of the causes were from the banning of an insecticide called DDT and that mosquitoes became resistant to insecticides.Most other diseases decreased between 1970 and 1990. Infectious and parasitic diseases cause roughly 12 percent of all deaths among blacks and 2 percent among whites. Health officials attribute the high incidence of infectious diseases in poor areas to the lack of clean water and sewage disposal systems. Heart disease and cancer affect whites more than other racial groups in South Africa. Heart disease accounts for about 38 percent of all deaths and only 13 percent among blacks. Cancerous tumors are responsible for 18 percent of deaths among whites and only 8 percent among blacks (Library of Congress, 69).Although the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases has declined in South Africa during the past 30 years, the rate of infection has increased. The most prevalent diseases are Acquire...
