The numbers on actual AIDS funding are imprecise, it appears that African countries are today spending $300 to $400 million a year for AIDS. This is less than 10 percent of what is required. In 1996-97, a total of $165 million was spent on AIDS programs in Africa. Of this, $150 million came from external sources (donor agencies, multilateral banks, and United Nations organizations), and $15 million was from African governments. Estimates suggest that external funding for AIDS in Africa may have risen to around $210 million in 1998. Further increases pushed total expenditures on AIDS to $300-400 million a year in 2000, and recent new financial commitments suggest that actual disbursements will also rise in the coming years. But a much larger "quantum leap" in funding will be needed to close the gap, which was allowed to widen in the 1990s. -- Draft Paper for the Abuja Summit on HIV/AIDS, April 16, 2001, written by staff of the UNAIDS Secretariat in Geneva, with helpful inputs from the Economic Commission for Africa
Although HIV was first detected in the South Africa largely among men who have sex with men and transfusion recipients between 1982 and 1987, the virus has moved into the heterosexual population, with the country experiencing an "explosive spread" of HIV between 1994 and 1998. Fifty percent of pregnant women in some parts of the country are HIV-positive. Vertical HIV transmission in the Western Cape has been reduced by 50 percent since 1999. -- Abdool Karim, Xinhua News Agency report, August 4, 2003
University of Natal researcher Quarraisha Abdool Karim said that national mortality rates for South African men between the ages of 20 and 40 increased by more than 150 percent since 1998, and the mortality rate for women between the ages of 20 and 35 has risen even more. Abdool Karim said that although the increasing death rates could "stabilize" the country's overall AIDS prevalence rate, it would be "premature and foolish" to believe that AIDS was "under control" in South Africa. -- Xinhua News Agency, August 4, 2003
75 percent of all people with HIV in the world live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently 25 million Africans are infected with HIV. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
South African officials expect 50,000 people to be on antiretroviral drugs by the end of the year and 1.4 million people to be on the drugs by 2009, at a total cost of $700 million. -- BBC News, April 1, 2004
According to a survey conducted by the Washington Post:
- 67 percent of respondents believe that HIV/AIDS in South Africa is a "crisis," 27 percent believe the disease poses a "serious problem but not a crisis," 4 percent believe the disease is a problem "but not a serious one" and 1 percent do not see HIV/AIDS as a problem in the country.
- 79 percent of all respondents were very worried about contracting HIV, compared with 86 percent of blacks, 72 percent of participants of mixed race, 66 percent of Indian respondents and 43 percent of whites.
- 28 percent of all respondents have known a close friend or relative who has died of AIDS-related complications, compared with 31 percent of blacks, 20 percent of respondents of mixed race, 8 percent of Indian participants and 17 percent of whites. -- Majority of South Africans Say Government Has Not Done Enough To Fight HIV/AIDS, Survey Shows, April 1, 2004, according to a survey conducted by the Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University
Currently, there are about five million people living with HIV in South Africa, the most of any country in the world, the Washington Post reports. In addition, the epidemic is expected to reduce the life expectancy in the country from 68 years to 36 years by 2010. -- Majority of South Africans Say Government Has Not Done Enough To Fight HIV/AIDS, Survey Shows, April 1, 2004, according to a survey conducted by the Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University
Botswana had the worst AIDS rate in the world; 38.8 percent of the adult population had contracted AIDS (2001). -- UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheet on Botswana: 2002 Update; CIA World Factbook 2002.
Botswana’s healthy life expectancy at birth is 36.0 for males and 35.4 for females. -- The World Health Report 2003
An estimated 5 million South Africans, including 2.7 million women, were living with AIDS, according to a UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheet on South Africa: 2002 Update; CIA World Factbook 2002. It was estimated that 660,000 South African children under the age of 15 had lost their mother or father or both parents to AIDS (2001). There were 11 million episodes of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) reported in 1999. -- UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheet on South Africa: 2002 Update; CIA World Factbook 2002
Uganda is considered the success story in Africa, regarding AIDS containment. Yet, there were an estimated 510,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, along with an estimated 84,000 deaths due to AIDS. Some 880,000 children 15 or younger had lost their mother or father or both parents to AIDS. -- UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheet on Uganda: 2002 Update; CIA World Factbook 2002.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 29.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately 3.5 million new infections occurred there in 2002, while the epidemic claimed the lives of an estimated 2.4 million Africans in the past year. Ten million young people (aged 15-24) and almost 3 million children under 15 are living with HIV. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Rampant epidemics are under way in southern Africa, where in four countries, national adult HIV prevalence has risen higher than 30 percent: Botswana (38.8 percent), Zimbabwe (33.7 percent), Swaziland (33.4 percent), and Lesotho (31 percent). -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Uganda continues to provide evidence that the epidemic does yield to human intervention. HIV infection levels appear to be on the decline recently in several parts of the country — as shown by the steady drop in HIV prevalence among 15- to 19-year-old pregnant women. Trends in behavioral indicators are in line with this apparent decline in HIV incidence. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Infection rates in Uganda have declined from 21 percent to 6 percent since 1991. -- Edward C. Green, Senior Research Scientist, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Malawi had 470,000 children orphaned by AIDS at the end of 2001. – AIDS Orphans in Africa, Avert.org
It is projected that the number of HIV infections will peak in 2010 (at between 25 and 30 percent of the population), but the number of AIDS cases will continue to increase for another 5 to 10 years. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Almost 1 million South African orphans under 15 will die of AIDS by 2005. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
1 out of every 7 South African children will be an HIV/AIDS orphan by 2005. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
HIV prevalence is highest among South African women aged 20 – 30. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Approximately 40-60 percent of all South African tuberculosis patients are HIV-positive. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Life-expectancy in Africa will have plunged to 30 by the end of this decade. Currently, in Botswana it has dropped from 71 to 39. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Between 28 and 45 percent of mineworkers in South Africa are HIV-positive. This has already led to a 15-percent drop in productivity at mines. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
Mines lose between 5 percent and 10 percent of their workers every year due to AIDS and will need to employ 20 percent more workers over the next 5 years to maintain normal production. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
When a worker develops full-blown AIDS, he/she will be absent from work 50 percent of the time. When at work, employees suffering with AIDS will function at 50 percent below capacity. -- “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya
85 percent of Zimbabwe’s soldiers had AIDS (2000). – “Country Data - 1997, 1999 & 2001,” By Maphindi Sibiya