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AIDS: The worst still to come! |
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June 28, 2000
GENEVA (AP) - An estimated 19 million people have been killed and a further 34 million infected by the AIDS virus, which is wreaking social and economic devastation in the most stricken African nations-- with the worst still to come.
A report Tuesday by the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS said that tough campaigns in countries like Uganda, Brazil, India and Thailand have shown it is possible to slow the epidemic. But it said there must be a massive increase in political will and financial resources at global level.
“Unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead," warned UNAIDS.
"This may sound dramatic, but it's hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has the firmest hold," said the report issued to coincide with a U.N. social summit.
The "Report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic" warned against complacency in wealthy countries.
Lack of needle-exchange programs in North America and parts of Europe has condemned drug addicts to continuing high levels of infection, it said.
And it cited studies in Australia and the United States that increasing numbers of young homosexual men are indulging in risky behavior with unprotected sexual intercourse and frequent partners.
Worldwide, 5.4 million people were newly infected last year with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus which causes AIDS. A total 13.2 million children have been orphaned since the disease first spread.
There are now 16 countries where more than one-tenth of the population aged 15-49 carries the AIDS virus, all in sub-Saharan Africa. In seven of these, at least one adult in five is infected. Women are harder hit than men.
The southern African nation of Botswana has the highest rate, with 36 percent of adults infected. In South Africa, which has a 20 percent infection rate, there are 4.2 million people living with the virus - the largest single national total in the world.
Life expectancy rates are being slashed: In Zimbabwe, a male who was 15 in 1983 had a 15 percent chance of dying before reaching his 50th birthday. This likelihood rose to 50 percent for those turning 15 in 1997.
The report described the infection rates in teen-agers and young women in some African countries as "frighteningly high." Nearly six out of 10 women under 24 in the South African town of Carletonville tested positive, according to a 1998 study cited by UNAIDS.
"AIDS has become a full-blown development crisis. Its social and economic consequences are felt widely not only in health but also in education, industry, agriculture, transport, human resources and the economy in general," the report said.
For instance, the high death rate among teachers has forced widespread school closure in the Central African Republic. In the first ten months of 1998, Zambia lost 1,300 teachers to AIDS - the equivalent of around two-thirds of new teachers trained annually, it said.
Denial continues to be a problem. The report cited a 1999 survey in a hard-hit Kenyan rural community among 72 minors orphaned by AIDS. Although all knew of the disease, none of them believed their parents had died of it and most thought witchcraft or a curse was to blame.
In an otherwise grim picture, there are a few success stories. The infection rate in Uganda has fallen to around 8 percent of the adult population from a peak of 14 percent in the early 1990s thanks to strong prevention campaigns and increased condom use.
Despite earlier fears of an epidemic sweeping Asia, the general rate of infection remains generally low.
In Thailand, the heterosexual epidemic has been curbed, although the virus is spreading fast through shared needles and unprotected sex between men.
Vigorous campaigns in India have helped contain the disease in high-risk groups and boosted hopes that the densely populated nation may be able to avert mass heterosexual infections.
Brazil's policy of prevention coupled with treatment with locally produced alternatives to high-cost patented drugs has also worked, it said.
Treatment of Brazil's 85,000 AIDS patients with drugs which delay the progression of the disease, halved the number of deaths between 1996 and 1999 and cut related infections by 60-80 percent, while also leading to huge savings in hospitalization bills.
UNAIDS praised recent moves by big drug companies to cut the cost in Africa of AIDS drugs and said there should be more negotiations with pharmaceutical concerns to reduce prices.
It also demanded steps to improve access to essential drugs to kill pain and treat diseases which feed off the AIDS virus, like pneumonia, TB and mouth fungus.
It said a "few relatively cheap and inexpensive drugs could help prolong the life of HIV positive people even in the poorest of countries by months if not years."
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