INTRODUCTION:
Health is a fundamental human right whose full realisation may be undermined by the failure to provide culturally appropriate care. According to the World Health Organisation, the acceptability of healthcare refers to care that upholds sound medical ethics, is culturally appropriate, and is sensitive to personal identity factors. The provision of such care is grounded in cultural humility which is an ethical stance that recognises the limitations of one’s understanding of another’s cultural experience. In culturally diverse contexts such as South Africa, adopting a culturally humble stance is essential, as it directly influences the acceptability of healthcare services.

METHODS:
This autoethnographic study explores the absence of cultural humility in clinical spaces, drawing on my experiences as a medical student at the University of Cape Town. Through reflective journaling, I recount moments in which cultural humility was notably lacking. Informal discussions with an educationalist enabled the co-development of themes situated within broader educational and social contexts, through which we critically examined potential root causes of this absence. Relevant literature was reviewed to situate personal narratives within a critical analytical framework.

RESULTS:
The literature suggests that the acceptability of care is constrained by healthcare professionals’ limited practice of cultural humility. This limitation is rooted in colonial legacies that marginalised indigenous knowledge systems, resulting in a healthcare system misaligned with local values. African philosophies such as Ubuntu emphasise interconnectedness and holistic personhood, whereas the biomedical model, shaped by colonialism, promotes a reductionistic approach. Challenging dominant Western epistemologies requires cultural humility, cultivated through ongoing critical reflexivity. Curriculum reform is therefore vital in fostering student awareness of cultural diversity, power, and positionality, enabling the development of truly reflexive healthcare professionals.

CONCLUSIONS:
Through cultural humility and critical reflexivity, South Africa can move toward a health system that meaningfully responds to its population’s diverse cultural realities.