AFRICA: AIDS overtakes malaria as prime killer
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Source: IRIN News Briefs, 9 September
mailto:irin@ocha.unon.org
More than two-thirds of the estimated 33.4 million people in the world
living with HIV/AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to latest
figures by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS.
For the first time, AIDS this year outstripped malaria as the prime
source of health-related death in Africa, AFP reported. According to
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in eastern and southern Africa, AIDS
is now claiming more lives than warfare, the continent's traditional
scourge.
"AIDS has been around for only 20 years, but it is already killing more
people than any other infectious disease," noted Peter Piot, UNAIDS'
executive director, presenting the WHO's annual report on world health.
In Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, AIDS or HIV has hit a quarter of
people aged between 15 and 49, and life expectancy has shrivelled from
70 to just 40-45 years.
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