Health care reform and the crisis of HIV and AIDS in South Africa.

South Africa’s transition to a democracy — characterized by a liberal constitution, a bill of rights, and attempts to pursue reconciliation rather than revenge — has been widely admired as a paradigm shift in human relationships from seemingly inevitable conflict to a negotiated peace. The challenge of narrowing racial disparities in health care is a formidable one for the new government. 1,2 The high rates of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and full-blown AIDS add another layer of complexity. In this review I evaluate health care reform and responses to the pandemic of HIV and AIDS during the first decade of the new democracy.