AEGiS-AP: Expert: AIDS Spreading in Africa

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Expert: AIDS Spreading in Africa

The Associated Press; 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 - Friday, November 21, 1997; 3:19 p.m. EST

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- The AIDS virus has become widespread in some regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where 19 million people are infected -- the highest incidence in the world, said Dr. Elhadj as Sy, head of the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS.

"The epidemic's impact in terms of suffering, orphanhood and widowhood, family and community impoverishment, increasing burden on health care systems, falling life expectancy and rising mortality rates is truly frightening," Sy told an International Planned Parenthood conference.

About 25 percent of adults in Botswana are infected with the AIDS virus, 22 percent in Zimbabwe and 19 percent in Namibia, he said, adding that in some southern African cities, more than 40 percent of pregnant women were infected.

Almost a quarter of all HIV victims live in Asia, with India alone having an estimated 3 million or more, he said. The HIV infection rate in the region doubled in the last three years and could double again by the end of the century.

"If the curve persists, the Asian epidemic will dwarf all others," he said.

Copyright 1997/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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