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HIV taken hold of KZN
Latoya Newman
2008-05-16
The latest research report on the state of the provinces in South Africa has revealed that KwaZulu-Natal has the worst health indicators and has the highest HIV and AIDS infection rate in the country. The report, compiled by the South African Institute of Race Relations, used data from various official sources. When compared with the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and the Western Cape, KZN has the highest HIV infection rate of just over 1,5-million in 2008 and an AIDS-related death count of 115 483. The Eastern Cape rated second highest with close to 729 000 infections and close to 45 000 AIDS-related deaths. Gauteng had the third highest in both categories and the Western Cape had the least.
Within education between the four provinces KZN had the second lowest pass rates for matriculation and university entrance. KZN's matriculation pass rate was 64 percent with a university pass rate of 14 percent. The Eastern Cape was worst in these two categories with a matriculation pass rate of 57 percent and a university entrance pass rate of 9 percent. Gauteng had pass rates of 75 percent for matriculation and 20 percent for university and the Western Cape had a matriculation pass rate of 81 percent and a university pass rate of 25 percent. A researcher with the Institute, Gail Eddy, said while their work did not look into the reasons behind situations within the provinces, she could make informed assumptions which would need further investigation.
In terms of the poor rating of education in KZN and the Eastern Cape, Eddy said history might play a part. Within the Eastern Cape and KZN there has traditionally been an under-investment from the apartheid government. Gauteng and the Western Cape have traditionally had the better schooling and education structures. On HIV and AIDS, Eddy said there were no conclusions. HIV and AIDS has definitely taken a hold in KZN, but we cannot really tell why. KZN may have the larger population, but in terms of medical capacity it seems to have more nurses and doctors than the Western Cape, for example. But the Western Cape has a better health system. And this is very interesting. She said the Western Cape was also known for being pro-active in medical care, such as in implementing an HIV and AIDS care policy independently of the national government. KZN also had the highest number of people per police official (as of March 2007) with 522 people per officer. The Eastern Cape had 430, Gauteng 377 and the Western Cape 302. The research also found that people living in the Western Cape were on average healthier, wealthier and better educated than in any other province. But the province also had the highest crime rate in the country. Gauteng's provincial economy was the strongest.
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