Winnie Mandela Announces Joint Project With Drew Medical School

Ending a six-city U.S. tour, Winnie Mandela announced in Los Angeles on Saturday that the African National Congress of South Africa and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Watts will embark on a unique collaboration of medical research and health programs in the coming months.

The effort, Mandela and university officials said, will put Drew in charge of developing medical programs with the ANC for South African blacks, whose health care needs are as dire as many blacks in America’s inner cities. As one of only four black medical schools in America, they said, Drew is uniquely qualified to head the effort.

“Our tour has made it clear to us that many African-American communities are underfed by the health care system of this country. The similarities of our situation suggests to us there are many possibilities for sharing experiences, knowledge and expertise,” Mandela, an anti-apartheid leader and wife of ANC President Nelson Mandela, told a crowd of 200 at Drew.

“It is my hope and prayer that Drew University will take the initiative, as I believe it will, of inviting African-American communities and academic institutions to help set up some forum at which they can consider the challenge and act on it now.”

Lewis King, dean of Drew’s College of Medicine, told the gathering that the university is prepared to begin the program by sharing medical research with the ANC on the care of children and their mothers, nutrition and other health issues. In addition, he said, the university intends to help the ANC launch medical programs, including clinics, that can assist black South Africans whose access to health care is severely limited amid that nation’s political upheaval.

“While humbled, we are frightened” of the task awaiting Drew and the other U. S. medical schools it hopes to enlist, King said. “Every 20 minutes, a black child in South Africa dies from malnutrition.”

King added that the medical needs of South Africa’s blacks are comparable to those of African-Americans. “We too die, Mrs. Mandela, from want,” he said. “We have a more sophisticated practice of apartheid. We call it health insurance.”

Each year, King said, 200,000 Americans die from infectious diseases that should not prove fatal. Another 22 million, he said, are living in malnutrition.

Earlier Saturday, Mandela made two other Los Angeles appearances aimed at drawing attention to the ANC’s activities and to conditions in South Africa.

The day began with a $1,000-a-plate brunch at Getty House, the official residence of Mayor Tom Bradley, organizers said. Later, Mandela was the guest of honor at a Black Women’s Forum event at Crossroads Theater in the Crenshaw district. That event drew more than 1,000 people, who paid $50 to $75 each, organizers said.

Previously, Mandela’s U. S. stops included Atlanta, where she served as grand marshal of the National March of Celebration commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.