HIV Infections Decline Slowly in Sub-Saharan Africa

These are among the findings of this year’s "Aids epidemic update," jointly published by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

HIV prevalence among those between 15 and 49 years declined from 5.8 percent in 2001 to 5.2 percent in 2008, the study says, but more than two-thirds of all people living with HIV are from sub-Saharan Africa, and 72 percent of Aids-related deaths occur in the region.

"An estimated 1.9 million… people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, bringing to 22.4 million… the number of people living with HIV," the report says. "In 2008, more than 14 million children in sub-Saharan Africa had lost one or both parents to AIDS."

The region accounts for 68 percent of new HIV infections among adults and 91 percent among children. "The epidemic continues to have an enormous impact on households, communities, businesses, public services and national economies in the region," the report notes.

The number of people living with HIV slightly increased in 2008, it says, but this is partly a result of increased longevity as a result of more access to treatment.

The report records a huge leap in treatment – from two percent of those who needed it in 2003 to 44 percent in 2008. In Kenya, Aids-related deaths have fallen by 29 percent since 2002. But at least one in 10 living in each of the nine nations of Southern Africa are HIV positive, it says. Swaziland has the world’s worst HIV rate – 26 percent – and average life expectancy fell by half between 1990 and 2007, to 37 years.

Source: Allafrica