PROGRAMS • LIFEPLACE
STATISTICS • OTHER

1 ) According to the new report, the African famine is a clear example of how the impact of HIV/AIDS reaches beyond the loss of life and health care costs traditionally associated with disease.

2 ) More than 14 million people are now at risk of starvation in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. All six of these predominantly agricultural societies are battling serious AIDS epidemics, with more than 5 million adults currently living with HIV/AIDS in these countries, out of a total adult population of some 26 million.

3 ) These six countries also have a total of 600,000 children under 15 living with HIV. The new report details how the impact of AIDS in farm communities has greatly decreased the capacity of these communities to survive the famine.

"The famine in southern Africa brings the world face-to-face with the deep and devastating impact of AIDS," said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. "What we are seeing today in a number of countries of sub-Saharan Africa is an HIV epidemic that is overwhelming the coping resources of entire communities. We must act now, on a much larger scale than anything we have done before, not only to assist those nations already hard-hit, but also to stop the explosive growth of AIDS in the parts of the world where the epidemic is newly emerging.

4 ) AIDS-related deaths in a farm household cause crop output to plummet — often by up to 60 percent. A 2002 study in central Malawi, for example, has shown that about 70 percent of surveyed households had suffered labor losses due to sickness. Household incomes also shrink, leaving people with less money to buy food.

The report indicates that 7 million agricultural workers in 25 African countries have died of AIDS since 1985. In 2001 alone, AIDS killed nearly 500,000 people in the six predominantly agricultural countries threatened with famine, most of whom were in their productive prime.

• By far the worst affected region, sub-Saharan Africa is now home to 29.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately 3.5 million new infections occurred there in 2002, while the epidemic claimed the lives of an estimated 2.4 million Africans in the past year. Ten million young people (aged 15-24) and almost 3 million children under 15 are living with HIV.
• In the absence of massively expanded prevention, treatment and care efforts, the AIDS death toll on the continent is expected to continue rising before peaking around the end of this decade. The worst of the epidemic's impact will be felt in the course of the next decade and beyond.
• Rampant epidemics are under way in southern Africa where, in four countries, national adult HIV prevalence has risen higher than thought possible, exceeding 30 percent: Botswana (38.8 percent), Lesotho (31 percent), Swaziland (33.4 percent), and Zimbabwe (33.7 percent).
• HIV prevalence is estimated to exceed 5 percent in eight other countries of west and central Africa, including Cameroon (11.8 percent), Central African Republic (12.9 percent), CÙte d'Ivoire (9.7 percent), and Nigeria (5.8 percent).
• Uganda continues to provide evidence that the epidemic does yield to human intervention. HIV infection levels appear to be on the decline recently in several parts of the country — as shown by the steady drop in HIV prevalence among 15 to 19-year-old pregnant women. Trends in behavioral indicators are in line with this apparent decline in HIV incidence.

Summary on AIDS Statistics in Kwazulu-Natal Schools

HIV/Aids currently affects all South Africans, but the ability of the society to act effectively in response is severely constrained. 5.3 Million in South Africa living with HIV. About 100-000 pupils in Johannesburg 20 percent of teachers, 15 percent of lectures and 37 percent of learners living with HIV/Aids. Schools are important sites for education about HIV/ Aids and for transforming risk-taking behaviour. 75 percent of the 5.1 million HIV/Aids cases in South Africa incidents of HIV transmission due to drug abuse. This has also increased the rape percentage.

In the schools of KwaZulu Natal it is said that 15.64% of female learners aged between 15 and 19 years old are likely to be HIV positive compared to 2.58% males. This is explained by the fact that males tend to have sex with females the same age or younger whereas the females tend to have sex with older males who particulary in the age category above 30, have high levels of infection just because they want to get money from them.97% Are Zulu first language speakers, 31% live in homes with more than seven people, 27% of fathers and 42% of mothers unemployed, 22% had no income earner in their homes. 40% Of HIV infected people live in rural areas, and are very isolated and underdeveloped. This lack of infrastructure is one of several factors that make it difficult to get a clear picture of the size of the population and the HIV prevalence.

The Republic of South Africa

SA is a comparatively large country, covering 1.2 million square kilometres and with an estimated population of about 40 million. Some 13% of all the people in the world living with HIV can be found in South Africa. UNAIDS estimates that at the end of 2003 there were 5.3 million people in South Africa living with HIV, equivalent to 21.5% of the adult population.
An estimated 25 million adults and children were living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003. During that year, an estimated 2.2 million people died from AIDS. The epidemic has left behind some twelve million orphaned African children. The estimated number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, the number of deaths from AIDS, and the number of living orphans in individual countries in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003 are shown below

Estimated HIV prevelence among antenatal clinic attendence, by province :

Based on the antenatal data, the study estimates that 6.29 million South Africans were living with HIV at the end of 2004, including 3.3 million women and 104,863 babies

The South African National HIV Survey, 2005

The survey's fieldworkers visited 12,581 households across South Africa, of which 10,584 (84%) took part in the survey. Of the 24,236 people within these households who were eligible to take part, 23,275 (96%) agreed to be interviewed and 15,851 (65%) agreed to take an HIV test. This means that only 55% of eligible people were tested.

The main reasons given for refusing HIV testing were fear of having a blood sample taken (58%); religious objections to having a blood sample taken (16%) and not wanting to learn HIV status (7%). A further 13% of people who refused were, for various reasons, afraid or mistrustful of the survey. The report of the survey claims that people at high risk for HIV infection were more likely to take part in the survey. The results were adjusted to compensate for this perceived bias.
Based on this survey, the researchers estimate that 10.8% of all South Africans over the age of 2 years were living with HIV in 2005. Among those between 15 and 49 years old, the estimated HIV prevalence was 16.2% in 2005.

Estimated HIV prevelence among South Africasns aged 2 years and older,

By Sex and Race:

And by Province:

STATISTICS ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The link between Prostitution, organised crime and drug abuse has been widely reported. In some cases, prostitution is used by prostitutes to fund their addiction. In other cases prostitutes use drugs to help them to cope with their work.

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