A United Nations report has said that the risk of dying from AIDS has reached 50% in parts of southern Africa, including Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The newly published report says that 5.5 million new cases were recorded last year, most of them in Africa, which it said was facing a development crisis. It says that the virus is wreaking social and economic havoc on the worst affected nations. The UN says that $4bn is needed annually to contain the epidemic, which it says has claimed 19 million lives.
The report also warned that at least one in every two 15-year-old boys in some African countries will die of an AIDS related illness. According to the report that was released in Geneva today, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to ravage the African continent, with up to one in five adults living with the deadly virus. Details of the 135-page report by the United Nations AIDS programme make for grim reading. In sub-Saharan Africa, four million people were infected last year, making up the bulk of the 5.4 million new cases worldwide. About 70% of all AIDS victims globally are in sub-Saharan Africa. The highest number of these, 4.2 million, are in South Africa.
The other worst affected countries in the African continent are Botswana and Zimbabwe, where the report says that at least one in every two 15 year-old boys will die of an AIDS related illness. However, there were some glimmers of hope, the report found that HIV/AIDS rates had stabilised in most high-income countries due to awareness campaigns and better treatment. Infection rates have dropped in a few developing nations, including Thailand and Uganda.
