AIDS to hit population growth in South Africa by UNAIDS Spokesman Bunmi Makinwa The Age Newspaper 2:03pm 21st Jan, 2003   January 21 2003    South Africa's population in 2015 will be one-fifth less than predicted earlier due to the scourge of AIDS, reaching only 49 million instead of 61 million, said a study published today.    By 2006, some 850,000 people aged between 15 and 49 in two of South Africa's nine provinces - Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal - will have died due to AIDS-related diseases, added the report, published by the University of South Africa.    The virus will also have a significant effect on life expectancy and by 2010 it could be as low as 33 years in provinces like KwaZulu-Natal, which has one of the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country.    South Africa has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world, with five million of its 43 million citizens carrying the virus, and 360,000 deaths in 2001.    UN figures show that more than 20 per cent of South African adults are infected while 660,000 South African children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS.    Meanwhile, some 14 Southern African Development Community (SADC) health ministers, meeting east of Johannesburg, were told the region was facing a new kind of famine, exacerbated by AIDS.    "HIV/AIDS directly impacts impacts food security and nutrition for individuals, households and communities," UNAIDS spokesman Bunmi Makinwa told the meeting.    He said seven million agricultural workers have died from the disease in 25 African countries since 1985.    HIV/AIDS affects adults in their most productive years, causing the burden on children and the elderly to increase.    Makinwa said an AIDS-related death in a farm household caused crop output to plummet -- often by up to 60 per cent.    Though some successes had been achieved in reducing infection rates, more resources were still needed, Makinwa said, especially in low and middle-income countries, which included the SADC.    Makinwa said: "The goal should be prevention, care and treatment in synergy."    - AFP Visit the related web page
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