Jerry Coovadia: SA loses great paediatrician, scientist and struggle stalwart

The world has lost a great paediatrician, scientist and champion for freedom and justice. I was profoundly saddened to learn of the passing of Prof Hoosen Mohamed Coovadia, who was my mentor, role model, colleague and dearest friend. “Jerry” as he was fondly known, was a remarkable human being, a force of nature and a man of impeccable integrity.

We are saying goodbye to one of SA’s greatest scientists and staunchest proponents of democracy and equality. He stood well above others for his integrity and unwavering commitment to a just world.

I pay tribute to his wife Dr Zubie Hamed, son Prof Imraan Coovadia and daughter Dr Anushka Coovadia as well as his extended family for their unwavering support during his many years spent in fighting for social justice.

The intellectual and scientist

I first met Coovadia 43 years ago at a meeting organised by the Natal Indian Congress, and was deeply impressed by his incisive contributions to the discussions. We quickly became friends and comrades in the anti-apartheid struggle. I would often have lunch with him in his office on the fourth floor of the medical school, just listening and appreciating his views and analyses of the world. He had so much to share, teach and instil in a young medical student. One afternoon as he crunched on a carrot in his lunch salad, he turned to me and asked me if I would be interested in doing a research project with him. Little did he or I appreciate how life-changing that request would turn out to be.

Coovadia came alive when he talked science, passion oozing from every pore, he would take on complex medical problems and transform them almost effortlessly into a series of research questions. His mind was both inquisitive and methodical. He was never scared to take on taboo challenges in medicine. And he did not tolerate fools easily — a stickler for the rigours of the scientific method, there was no talk of anything but scientific excellence in his presence. The same applied when I saw patients and attended paediatric ward rounds with him.

As a mentor, he set a high bar, forcing me repeatedly to push the boundaries of knowledge. He was an unparalleled intellect and never compromised on anything less than world-class excellence. He had a major influence on my life and my choice of research as a career. He was always there to support and guide me, offering warm words of friendly advice as I began my career in medical research. I would not be where I am today without him.

Passionate champion for justice

Right from the time I first met him, I saw that Coovadia was as passionate about freedom and justice as he was about science. He played a prominent role in the struggle for a democratic SA and took a principled stand against nonracialism.

Though he started his medical studies at the University of Natal in SA, he chose to complete his medical degree at Grant Medical College in Bombay in the 1960s. He met his future wife, Zubie Hamed, there, and became politically active as a student in India. He was instrumental in forming a political body called the SA Students Association, which invited members of the ANC in exile, such as Dr Yusuf Dadoo, to address them on freedom and the anti-apartheid movement.

On his return, he worked at King Edward VIII Hospital and subsequently joined the paediatrics department at the University of Natal Medical School. In the 1970s, he was one of the key figures in rekindling the Natal Indian Congress and was elected its vice-president. In the 1980s, he was actively involved in the United Democratic Front.

Politics and health were two sides of the same coin for him. He fought for equitable healthcare and was a founding member of the National Medical and Dental Association, which was set up by progressive doctors following the Medical Association of SA’s complacency regarding the doctors who were complicit in Steve Biko’s death.

In 1988, Quarraisha Abdool Karim and I travelled with him to Mexico, Nicaragua and El Salvadore to study their healthcare systems. We went to the village in foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains to spend a week with David Werner to study how he set up healthcare for the rural poor, which his book, Where There is No Doctor famously describes. This visit left an indelible impression on Coovadia and shaped his thinking about how SA should address its healthcare needs. He spoke extensively on SA’s need for a National Health Service, with National Health Insurance as a stepping stone, being built on the foundations of primary healthcare.

He was formidable as an anti-apartheid activist — strategic and penetrating in his analysis of the tactics needed to advance the struggle for freedom. In the 1980s he was part of a delegation to meet the ANC in Lusaka before the organisation was unbanned. He took part in the preliminary discussions and negotiations at the Congress for a Democratic SA (Codesa). As a result of his political activities, Coovadia was targeted by the apartheid regime — his house was bombed during the political turbulence in the early 1990s.

A global leader in Aids

Coovadia specialised in paediatrics at the University of Natal and became a fellow of the College of Paediatricians of the College of Medicine of SA in 1971. In 1974, he obtained his MSc in Immunology from the University of Birmingham in the UK. His interest in paediatric HIV/Aids developed in the early 1990s as the extent of the tragedy in SA began to unfold. His particular interest was the transmission of the virus from mother to child, a field in which he challenged conventional wisdom about breastfeeding and became internationally recognised for his ground-breaking research on saving babies’ lives by reducing HIV transmission from mother to child through exclusive breastfeeding.

His international stature in HIV/Aids led to him being appointed as chair of the 13th International Aids Conference in Durban in July 2000. This conference is widely credited for expediting access to Aids treatment in poor countries. It brought him national and international accolades but also resulted in clashes with some prominent government figures at the time, especially president Thabo Mbeki and minister Tshabalala-Msimang. He stood up to these Aids denialists undaunted. Despite being vilified by some for his clashes with the president, Coovadia persisted in speaking truth to power regardless, never faltering.

An accomplished academic leader

After retiring as head of paediatrics, Coovadia was appointed Victor Daitz chair in HIV/Aids Research, and director of Biomedical Science at the Centre for HIV/Aids Networking at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of Natal. Afterwards served with Quarraisha and me in the leadership of the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in SA. In 2010, he was appointed with a group of experts to the government’s National Planning Commission to guide the development plan of SA. A few years ago, he served as president of the SA Medical Association.

Coovadia received numerous accolades and awards including the Star of SA and the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights for his contributions to democracy and health. He has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Durban Westville, Witwatersrand and Cape Town. He received the silver medal from the SA Medical Research Council. He is one of a handful of South Africans to be elected as a foreign member of the US National Academy of Medicine.

He received the Science-for-Society Gold Medal award of the Academy of Science of SA; a Lifetime Achievement Award during the HIV Congress in India; the American Association for the Advancement of Science Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award; the International Association of Physicians in Aids and Care Award; and the Heroes in Medicine Award in Toronto, Canada.

A great loss

Coovadia was a patriot, deeply committed to a better and more just SA. He was a fierce critic of maladministration and corruption in government and was vocal about how he felt that the struggle for a free and just country was being jeopardised by greed and incompetence.

A few years ago, he developed weakness in both limbs, which progressively deteriorated until he became wheelchair bound. Quarraisha, our children and I recently visited Coovadia to give him a signed copy of my book, he was chatty and in good spirits. Even then, he talked about some new developments in Aids research.

His untimely demise has left us with a deep sense of loss but we are heartened by the privilege of having had Coovadia as a close friend. We have lost a visionary who remained forever hopeful that SA would be a great country, one that cared for its poor and vulnerable, especially its children. We have lost an icon in the world of medical science, unwavering in his commitment to saving lives through his research. We have lost a great man who towered above others for his integrity and compassion.

• Prof Salim S Abdool Karim is director of the Centre for the Aids Programme and Research in SA (Caprisa).