Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - November 14, 2008
Thabo Mkhize
MOST South Africans will not live to celebrate their 50th birthday, just like people living in strife-torn Somalia and impoverished Ethiopia.
A UN Population Fund report puts the life expectancy of the typical South African man at only 48.8 years; women are not expected to live longer than 49.6 years.
This is drastically lower than a decade ago, when the US Census Bureau's international database put life expectancy at 55.5 years for South Africans.
The most recent estimate of South African life expectancies was less than for people living in Brazil, the murder capital of the world, or for people in war-torn Iraq.
The report, UNFPA State of World Population 2008, states that South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world, with 21.8 percent of all women aged between 15 and 49 being HIV-positive - the fourth-highest rate globally. Only South Africa's less populous neighbours - Swaziland (32 percent), Botswana (28.9 percent) and Lesotho (27.1 percent) - have worse prevalence figures.
The report comes only weeks after a study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that more than 330 000 lives had been lost in South Africa because of the government's failure to roll out HIV-Aids drugs between 2000 and 2005.
Andrew Warlick, a researcher with the Treatment Action Campaign, yesterday said: "[The report] stresses the extent and the depth of the crisis we are in, and shows that HIV-Aids is tearing apart our social fabric."
Warlick said most of the deaths in this country could be attributed to HIV-Aids-related conditions.
Professor Thomas Rehle, director of International Health Studies at the Medical Research Council, said the country had an overwhelming task ahead if it wanted to reduce the prevalence of HIV and increase life expectancies.
"About 5.5 million people are infected with HIV and we have about 500 000 new infections a year. Everybody is worried," he said.
Nditsheni Maanda, of the Nisaa Institute for Women Development, said the short life expectancy of South African women was robbing the country of its caregivers and home makers.
"Now it looks like we will not have grandmothers in the future. Many households are led by children, and we have many orphans because of HIV."
Fidel Hadebe, the national health spokesman, said his department would have to study the UN report before commenting.
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