Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association (Johannesburg) - April 3, 2003
Releasing the report at a media briefing in Johannesburg, Unicef executive director Carol Bellamy said that about one in four adults in the six countries now lived with HIV/Aids.
Zimbabwe led the statistics in terms of people living with HIV/Aids. Some 33 percent of the country's population have the disease.
Swaziland followed with 33,4 percent, Lesotho with 31 percent, Zambia at 21,5 percent, Malawi with 15 percent and Mozambique with 13 percent.
Young women between the ages of 15 and 25 in the six countries had the highest HIV/Aids infection rate, compared to their male counterparts.
At least 51,4 percent of young women in Lesotho were living with HIV/Aids compared to 23,5 of young men. Corresponding figures in Swaziland were 47 and 18,3 percent; 39,6 and 14,9 percent in Zimbabwe; 25 and 9,7 percent in Zambia; 18 and 7,8 percent in Mozambique; and 18 and 7,6 percent in Malawi.
The report says compared to the six countries, Zimbabwe had the highest number of children orphaned by Aids, while Lesotho had the lowest figures. Some 780000 children were orphaned by the pandemic in Zimbabwe and 73000 in Lesotho.
Nearly a million children were underweight as the result of malnutrition and famine in Mozambique. Swaziland registered the lowest figure in this regard with 14000.
"This deadly combination of food shortages and HIV/Aids is having particularly devastating consequences for women and girls," said Bellamy, who is also a chairwoman of UN secretary-general's task force on HIV/Aids and Women.
"Women have been hit hardest by these epidemics and they, overwhelmingly, are taking on the burden of caring for the young, the old, the sick and the dying."
Bellamy said the report, which took an in-depth look at over 60 nutritional surveys and studies in the six-affected countries, showed that a further deterioration in nutritional status of young children throughout the region has been averted.
Unicef regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Urban Johnson said the report also revealed that certain age groups of children, specifically those under three, were far more vulnerable to drought and HIV/Aids.
"These findings indicate that humanitarian assistance -- specifically the combination of emergency food, clean water and childhood immunisation --has stemmed any dramatic decline in child malnutrition throughout Southern Africa."
He lashed out at leaders of the countries in the region, saying apart from Uganda, other countries were silent about HIV/Aids and its impact.
"There is a strong denial about this issue," Johnson said.
"It is disturbing to find some leaders embark on campaigns to revive the economic situation of the continent and never utter a word about HIV/Aids."
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