AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Truth and Reconciliation: Examining Human Rights Violations in South Africa's Health Care Sector

Apartheid Medicine 
Health and Human Rights in South Africa 
 

A Report to 
American Association for the Advancement of Science 
American Psychiatric Association 
American Public Health Association 
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences 
 

In 1989, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conducted a medical mission of inquiry to South Africa. A six-member delegation, representing four U.S. medical and scientific organizations, visited South Africa to examine health and human rights issues.  The mission team's report, Apartheid Medicine, summarized their findings, examining how legal structures and the culture of apartheid denied the majority of South Africans decent health care and contributed to human rights violations by the health care sector. 

Out of appreciation for the Apartheid Medicine report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission invited AAAS to participate in their evaluation of health care sector human rights violations. 

Individual copies of Apartheid Medicine are available for free from the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program: 

AAAS Science and Human Rights Program 
1200 New York Avenue, NW 
Washington, DC  20005 
Phone: 202/326-6790 
Fax: 202/289-4950