AEGiS-IRIN: AIDS is Bigger Killer

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS is Bigger Killer

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 3, 2001

Two South African provinces, Gauteng and the Free State, have announced that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of deaths within their boundaries, the 'Business Day' newspaper reported on Wednesday. The statements have reinforced leaked findings from the unreleased Medical Research Council (MRC) report, which states that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in the country.

The Gauteng provincial health department's director for the HIV/AIDS programme, Liz Floyd, was reported as saying that HIV/AIDS was on the rampage, claiming more lives than any other cause. "HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death in the province, although it is difficult to quantify it. We have seen an increase in the number of deaths in the paediatric, medical, tuberculosis and medical wards," Floyd was quoted as saying. She said there had also been an increase in the death rate of pregnant women, the report said.

In the Free State health authorities said on Monday that the disease was also the biggest killer in that province. The department's spokeswoman, Elke Grobler, said statistics showed that 32.2 percent of the nearly 22,000 blood samples taken in five health districts in the province had tested HIV-positive.

On Tuesday, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), attacked the MRC report, saying that it was "not credible", the newspaper reported. The ANC's spokesperson, Smuts Ngonyama, was yesterday quoted as saying the ANC found it difficult to verify the accuracy of the MRC report. In a letter to health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang last month, President Thabo Mbeki asked her to consider policy choices in the light of 1995 AIDS data which ranked AIDS as a relatively minor cause of death.
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