Ep15 (part 3) - The South African Experience with COVID-19 and Commonalities with the U.S., Sagie Pillay

The Pursuit of Health Podcast

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On the final installment of this three-part special episode of the Pursuit of Health Podcast, we conclude our first venture outside the US. Our host, Dr. Fethke, continues the discussion with Mr. Sagie Pillay from his home office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mr Pillay has an extensive worldwide education in healthcare policy and administration. For over three decades he has served South Africa and the African continent through many leadership roles. He currently is the Chief Operations Officer at Wits Health Consortium, Johannesburg, South Africa.

The discussion transitions from the backdrop of prioritizing the strong Diagnostic Testing infrastructure which Mr. Pillay helped to establish in Africa in response to the HIV, malaria and tuberculosis experience. This initially placed South Africa at the forefront of the world’s nations in terms of being able to identify and isolate people with Covid-19 in early 2020. Initially this kept the number of Covid-19 cases and associated severe illness and deaths low, and thus their healthcare system was not overwhelmed.

As the pandemic continued into 2021 the dynamics surrounding the approach to Covid-19 shifted way from the influence of science, public health and medicine to the political and economic realm. Mr. Pillay believes that this tug of war for an all or nothing approach between healthcare and economics was the cause of the subsequent significant increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths manifested as additional waves. He argues that all sides should have come together to find common ground instead of digging in their heels and turning Biology into Politics.

Both Mr. Pillay and Dr. Fethke agreed that during this Covid-19 pandemic the U.S. and South Africa once again found themselves sharing the harsh lesson that ignoring racial disparities is the Achilles heel that weakens both a nation’s health and economics. Mr. Pillay stresses that in a well functioning society, no person is more important than another. He concludes that the role of any government is to support its people by prioritizing education and public health so that they will not have to be faced with mandating interventions such as vaccines.

As this amazing and in depth episode concludes, our guest summarizes the lessons he learned from his career beginning in the 1990’s. After rebuilding a nation, addressing HIV and now Covid-19, Mr. Pillay advises us that any future resilience to other such struggles can only be attained by improving Access to Healthcare for Everyone and Prioritizing the Human Factor - people as our most fundamental and important resource - as a value of society.

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