'Four epidemics' harm South Africa

South Africa is in the grip of four different health epidemics at once, a new study has claimed.

Research published in the Lancet has revealed that a 'cocktail' of four issues is causing enormous problems in the country, namely HIV/TB, violence, rising chronic disease and poor maternal and child health.

In the Lancet Series on Health in South Africa, the challenge facing the nation's health services is laid out.

Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the South African government, has pledged to alter the make-up of the health system in the country and stop the epidemics.

Professor Hoosen Coovadi of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and professor Victor Daitz of the University of Kwazulu-Natal explained the beginnings of the "dysfunctional health system and the collision of the epidemics of communicable and non-communicable diseases in South Africa".

They said that policies throughout the country's history, from "colonial subjugation, apartheid dispossession, to the post-apartheid period" have had an impact.

The report called for fresh focus and leadership on health issues in South Africa.

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