Disparity and Apartheid

 The hospital I am at is a public hospital and in South Africa the poorest individuals in the country are the ones who receive care at the public hospitals. Walking around South Africa, there is a well distributed mix of individuals who the people here distinguish as "white", "black", or "colored". In the hospital, the children receiving care are almost all black and are from neighborhoods that during the time of apartheid were distinguished as black neighborhoods. When being driven around Cape Town, I am shown the different neighborhoods that were designated as being for "white", "black", and "colored" and the difference in housing quality and location is massive. Although apartheid has ended, these neighborhoods are still pretty true to those designations largely because of the way apartheid has set individuals who were not white back in terms of wealth and equality. I am also seeing first hand in the hospital the way in which children, their health, and their outcomes are affected by racism and the lasting effects of apartheid.