AIDS Moves Up To Fourth Place Among World Killers
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UNAIDS PRESS RELEASE: 11/05/99
AIDS Is Now Leading Cause Of Death In Africa;
Aids Kills More People World-Wide Than Any Other Infectious Disease.
HIV/AIDS is now the number one overall cause of death in Africa, and
has moved up to fourth place among all causes of death world-wide, ac-
cording to the latest annual World Health Report, which outlines a new
approach to current health challenges. The report, released today by
the World Health Organisation (WHO), uses HIV/AIDS estimates from the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and WHO, and WHO's
own estimates of other diseases, to rank the world's major causes of
mortality, morbidity and disability.
"AIDS has been with us for just twenty years and already it is killing
more people than any other infectious disease", said Peter Piot, Execu-
tive Director of UNAIDS. "It is the most formidable pathogen to con-
front modern medicine, with the potential to undermine this century's
massive improvements in health and well-being of people around the
world."
According to the new report, heart disease, strokes, and acute lower
respiratory infections - typical causes of death in old age - are the
only causes of death to surpass HIV/AIDS. The epidemic was responsible
for one in five deaths in Africa in 1998, approximately 2 million peo-
ple, according to UNAIDS/WHO estimates. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS is now
the primary cause of disease burden in developing countries. In other
words, AIDS is making the most destructive impact not only on death
rates but on premature death and disability in the developing world.
"HIV is unusually catastrophic for two reasons: AIDS targets young
adults, and the number of deaths are accelerating quickly", said Dr
Piot. "Even if we stopped HIV today, because of the millions of people
now living with the infection, the burden of AIDS will continue to be
severely felt. This is only the tip of the iceberg."
While only small fluctuations in impact have been seen over the years
with other causes of death, the AIDS curve is rising sharply. In addi-
tion, recent work has shown that the role of AIDS as a leading cause of
death had been previously underestimated when compared to other causes.
Last year, HIV/AIDS was ranked as the seventh highest cause of death
worldwide.
"These new findings challenge the world to make better use of the tools
we have to reduce the impact of AIDS, including prevention and care,
and speed up the search for an AIDS vaccine", said Dr Piot.
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