South Africa heads into elections in a sorry state of health.

摘要

President-in-waiting Jacob Zuma addressed 60000 adoring supporters at the launch of the African National Congress' (ANC) election manifesto on Jan 10, vaunting the social progress that has been made since the party came to power. He said that 88% of the population had access to running water, up from 62% in 1996; 12-5 million received social grants, up from 3 million; free primary health care was expanded, 1600 more clinics were built, and more than half the 400 public hospitals were refurbished. But the ANC, which is expected to sweep April's elections, is acutely aware of a grimmer set of statistics: around 5-7 million South Africans are infected with HIV/AIDS; life expectancy is 12 years lower than in 1996; maternal mortality is worse than Iraq's; child mortality is more than three times higher than Brazil; and more than a third of public sector posts are vacant.