Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - July 6, 2004
Food shortages hitting at least six countries are also giving Aids a "magnifying effect", exacerbating problems surrounding poverty, the plight of women and the government's ability to respond, the report says.
On average, the prevalence rate in Southern Africa is about 25% with Aids and HIV affecting, in order of magnitude for 2003, 38,8% of adults in Swaziland, 37,3% in Botswana, 28,9% in Lesotho and 24,6% in Zimbabwe.
"In seven African countries where HIV prevalence exceeds 20%, the average life expectancy of a person born between 1995 and 2000 is now 49 years -- 13 years less than in the absence of Aids," says the UN's 2004 Global Report on Aids.
"In the worst-affected countries of eastern and Southern Africa the probability of a 15-year-old dying before reaching age 60 has risen dramatically," says the report, which is being released worldwide.
South Africa, which has the largest number of people living with Aids at 4,8-million, has a prevalence rate of 21,5% while 16,5% of adults are living with HIV and Aids in Zambia, 21,3% in Namibia, 14,2% in Malawi and 12,2% in Mozambique.
Infection rates are still climbing in some countries, the report says, adding that while HIV and Aids may appear to be making fewer inroads in others, that may be because the death rates conceal the continuing high rate of new infections.
"In Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the average life expectancy of people born over the next decade is projected to drop below 35 years in the absence of anti-retroviral treatment," the report adds.
"Unless the Aids response is dramatically strengthened, by 2025, 38 African countries will have populations which will be 14% smaller than predicted in the absence of Aids," the report says.
As in the rest of Africa, more women are living with HIV and Aids than men in Southern Africa, with 20 women affected for every 10 men in South Africa.
The UN report says a combination of factors are working in concert to fan the spread of Aids in Southern Africa.
"These factors include poverty and social instability that result in family disruption, high levels of other sexually transmitted infections, the low status of women, sexual violence and ineffective leadership during critical periods in the spread of HIV."
A food crisis in the region is also worsening the situation.
"In six of the 10 highest-prevalence countries -- Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- more than 15-million people required emergency food aid due to widespread chronic and acute food shortages," the report says.
Food shortages were triggered by adverse weather conditions and a "series of policy and governance-related failures that seriously affected food production".
"Aids made the situation worse," says the report, highlighting countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe where households with sick adults suffer "marked reductions in agricultural production and income generation".
The report says Aids has spread rapidly in many Southern African countries, including Swaziland where the average prevalence among pregnant women is 39% -- up from from 34% in 2000 and only 4% in 1990.
Only Angola appears to have been spared from the ravages of Aids with a prevalence rate of only 3,9% in 2003, up from 3,7% in 2001, the report said.
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