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Study: 6.5m South Africans may have HIV
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-12 16:55
More than 6.5 million of South Africa's 47 million people could be infected
with HIV, according to a government report released Monday, a sharp increase
from previous estimates.
A 2004 Health Department survey of more than 16,000 pregnant women attending
antenatal clinics indicated between 6.29 million and 6.57 million South Africans
were infected with the virus that causes AIDS, compared to 5.6 million in 2003.
The state statistical service, Statistics SA, put the figure this year at 4.5
million.
Officials quoted by the South African Broadcasting Corp. blamed differences
in methodology for the discrepancy.
President Thabo Mbeki's government has been criticized for its sluggish
response to HIV/AIDS, with activists accusing it of seeking to play down the
crisis. Until last year, the government refused to provide life-prolonging
anti-retroviral drugs through the public health system, citing cost and safety
concerns.
The annual National HIV and Siphilis Antenatal Sero-Prevalence Survey found
29.5 percent of pregnant women tested positive for HIV in 2004, compared to 27.9
percent in 2003.
Prevalence increased among all age groups between the two years, but was
highest in women aged between 25 and 29 — nearly 40 percent of whom tested
HIV-positive.
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