AIDS & HIV in Southern Africa     

The highest percentage of the Sub-Saharan African population infected with HIV are in the countries I visited on safari: Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe - up to a third of the adult population are infected in some areas! Read the Report from "Secure the Future" Secure the Future is an initiative of a company in partnership with the African nations of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland - to find sustainable and relevant solutions for the management of HIV/AIDS in women and children, and provide resources to improve community education and patient support.

Sign on the Namibia / Botswana border (see border photo)

CONFERENCE IN ZAMBIA TO STOP THE SPREAD OF AIDS LUSAKA 11 Sep 99: Thousands of people united in the fight against AIDS have flocked to the Zambian capital, Lusaka for a conference seeking to stop the spread of the epidemic. Some 3,000 organisations, researchers, politicians and ordinary people whose lives have been altered by AIDS will attend the one-week conference, which opens on tomorrow. Organisers say the aim of the conference is to examine the social and economic impact of H.I.V.-AIDS in Africa as well its impact on women. Participants will also look at support and care for people living with AIDS and seek ways of raising awareness and acceptance of the dangers of H.I.V-AIDS. 11.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have died of AIDS - the equivalent of the combined populations of New York City and Los Angeles. One quarter of those deaths were among children. That toll, representing 83 percent of all AIDS deaths worldwide, has been exacted in a region that accounts for just one tenth of the world's population. And sub-Saharan Africa is home to an estimated two thirds of the 34 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Namibians Cautioned Over Rapid Spread of AIDS PANA Wire Service (08/11/99); Ikeh, Goddy Mandiangu Nsugu, Karas Regional Medical Officer, has warned Namibians that they must change their sexual behavior if they are to effectively combat the spread of HIV. Speaking at the Ecumenical AIDS Prayer Day on Sunday, Nsugu noted that 17 percent of Namibians have HIV. Nsugu said that 90 percent of Namibians know how HIV is transmitted, yet few have changed their sexual behavior. Botswana to Give Allowance to AIDS Sufferers Reuters (09/30/98) Botswana President Festus Mogae announced plans on Wednesday to supply HIV-infected people in the country with a monthly allowance of 90 pula (US$20). Mogae also said that pregnant women with the virus will receive AZT and breast-milk substitutes. According to Mogae, the Ministry of Health has allocated 16.5 million pula for drug and breast-milk substitute purchases for HIV-infected pregnant women. Experts predict that 18 percent of Botswana's 1.5 million people will be infected with HIV by the year 2000. South African Health Industry to Count Cost of AIDS Reuters (09/01/99); Bull, Alister Old Mutual Healthcare, a major healthcare provider in South Africa, estimates that the cost of AIDS care in the country could reach $3.8 billion a year by 2009. South African officials recently warned that by 2005, an estimated 5 million residents would have HIV and more than 1 million children will have been orphaned by the disease. Credit rating agencies have identified AIDS as a burden on the nation's economy. The cost of dealing with AIDS in South Africa is estimated to reach 40 percent of all healthcare costs within 10 years, up from 6 percent to 10 percent at present. The AIDS Foundation of South Africa is a funding agency seeking to identify and develop initiatives which reduce the impact of AIDS in under-resourced communities. What makes AIDS a unique disease is the fact that it infects people at the peak of their productive years, at a time when they would not normally require medical care: the incubation period is long and the condition is fatal. Many of the people infected with HIV will be skilled and educated persons in the workplace and this will impact on productivity and training. The shocking facts about AIDS is that through the disease, the legacy of Apartheid lives on. AIDS knows no social boundaries, but there are socio-economic and political conditions which contribute to its spread and people's survival. It thrives in environments of poverty, rapid urbanisation, violence and destabilisation. In South Africa the particularly vulnerable are those lacking information, resources and control over their lives - namely the poor, those living in rural areas and women. 250,000 MOZAMBICANS WILL DIE OF AIDS BY 2001 MAPUTO 11 Sep 99: Mozambique's Health Minister says more than a quarter of a million Mozambicans will have died of AIDS by the end of next year, but most of the deaths have not been registered as related to H.I.V.- AIDS. Aurelio Zilhao told parliament that only 11-thousand deaths have been attributed to AIDS since the start of the pandemic in the 1980's. However, the Ministry of Health estimates that 14-and-a-half per cent of adult Mozambicans are infected with the virus. UNAIDS in Namibia - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (dated 1996) Comprehensive List of International Online HIV / AIDS Resources