AEGiS-DMG: Sixty percent of army may be HIV-positive Preliminary testing reveals that 60-70% of South African soldiers may be infected with the HIV/Aids virus.

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Sixty percent of army may be HIV-positive Preliminary testing reveals that 60-70% of South African soldiers may be infected with the HIV/Aids virus.

Daily Mail & Guardian - Johannesburg, South Africa. March 31 2000
Paul Kirk

THE rate of HIV/Aids infection in the South African National Defence Force may be as high as 60% to 70% while in at least one military unit, 90% of the troops are infected with the virus. These extraordinary figures, leaked this week, were taken from preliminary HIV testing being conducted by the SANDF.

The 90% infection rate was found at a military police base in northern KwaZulu-Natal, and its infection status was discovered by accident. As part of a study into malaria drugs, the military recruited the soldiers to try out new medicines. The unit, based at Josini, was chosen as the town is a high-risk malaria area. But before the soldiers could be given the drugs they had to submit to a comprehensive medical evaluation, including an Aids test. Thirty out of the 33 members of the unit tested HIV-positive and the test had to be abandoned.

It is understood this unit was not the only one to test high. Some units around Pietermaritzburg and on the South Africa/Mozambique border have posted rates of well over 70%.

At present all members of the defence force are being given medical examinations, including HIV tests, to check on their operational readiness. In terms of United Nations regulations, HIV-infected troops may not be sent on international peacekeeping operations.

At this stage the figures for all military units are not known. Brigadier General Prem Naicker of the Military Health Service said the exact figures will only be known in two months and the available figures are not accurate. He said high figures posted by isolated units are not necessarily indicative of the situation in the rest of the country.

Some two years ago, Metropolitan Life Aids researcher Dr Thomas Méhr claimed that about 40% of the SANDF were HIV-positive. At the time the military believed the figure was far lower, but was not conducting tests for HIV/ Aids. Méhr said he based his initial estimate on statistics from other African states where men in the military were twice as likely as the civilian population to contract HIV/Aids.

Méhr pointed out that the areas mentioned by the Mail & Guardian were high-risk areas anyway and the general population would have a high incidence of HIV infection. Nonetheless, he said the figures were worrying.

The rate of HIV infection being found in the SANDF at present compares favourably to that of the military in Malawi (75%) and Zimbabwe (80%), but it is worse than in many other African countries, including Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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