Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters Newmedia - Wednesday November 1, 2000
"Increased morbidity and death will have an impact on labour productivity and available resources and so on economic growth," Manuel told parliament, adding his voice to a growing crescendo of warnings from business and welfare experts.
"Increased national and provincial healthcare and welfare expenditure will put pressure on budgets and divert resources from saving and investment in productive assets and human capital," he continued.
South Africa is at the heart of a global epidemic of HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, with an infection rate estimated at more than 2,000 a day. Some 4.5 million people are already infected.
Hospital and healthcare systems are being stretched to breaking point by the epidemic as families simply dump their ailing relatives on state facilities out of a combination of poverty and fear.
Manuel warned that apart from the economic impact AIDS would also have dire sociological consequences.
"Loss of breadwinners will destabilise households, reduce household income and increase healthcare costs and intensify poverty," he said.
But he declined to quantify the overall cost of the disease, arguing that there was insufficient information on which to formulate policy responses.
"Quantifying the cumulative impact of these forces with any degree of certainty is not possible at this stage," he said.
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