d Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). South Africa’s first reported death from AIDS occurred in 1982. In 1985, health officials began testing blood to prevent AIDS transmission through transfusion. By 1991, 613 cases of AIDS had been reported nationwide and 270 people had died from the disease. The South African Institute of Medical Research had estimated that 15,000 people were infected with HIV. The World Health Organization reported 1,234 cases of AIDS in South Africa in 1992. The number of AIDS cases reached 10,351 in 1996. Some health researchers had estimated that between 800,000 and one million South Africans were HIV positive and the rate of infection was likely to double every year. These figures suggest that there would be between four and eight million people with HIV by the year 2000 and more than one million deaths from AIDS in the next century. Some officials were more concerned about the incidence of tuberculosis than AIDS because tuberculosis caused about 36 deaths each day, while AIDS on average caused less than one per day.Before 1990, apartheid was practiced in most hospitals. Some admitted patients of one racial group only, and others designated operating rooms and special care facilities for patients of certain racial group. A very few medical personnel ignored apartheid-related restrictions, especially in emergency rooms and public clinics. Today the racial distinctions are disappearing, but the wealthy still has easier access to better health care services. South Africa’s health care facilities include hospitals, community health care centers, clinics, poison control centers, ambulance service, air rescue services, senior citizen homes, child assistance phone services, rape crisis centers, and suicide prevention programs. The South African Red Cross runs most of these facilities. Seven universities have medical schools and six provide dental trai...
