Studying Mandela’s Children: Human Biology in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

In this interview, human biologist Noel Cameron reflects on his work on child growth and development in post-apartheid South Africa. The conversation focuses in particular on Cameron’s involvement with a cohort study called Birth to Twenty, which sought to determine the health impacts of apartheid on black children born in the year Nelson Mandela became president. Cameron considers the extent to which human population biology can contribute to the creation of new and potentially improved health realities for marginalized communities in the Global South.