Generation Africa - AIDS in South Africa

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South Africa is home to the world’s largest population of people living with HIV: 5.7 million (UNAIDS, 2008).
In South Africa, more than 1 adult out of every 10 is infected.
There is still no evidence of a decline in infections among pregnant women in South Africa, where more than 29% of women accessing public health services tested HIV-positive in 2008 (Department of Health, 2009).
Only 10% of the South Africans who need medication to prevent the development of the disease and subsequent death, are taken care of.
Because of the repercussions of the AIDS epidemic on the production, and of the cost of the fight against the disease, the South-African economy could be, in 2010, from 17 to 20% lower than what it would have been without the syndrome (Study carried out by two American economists: Mr. Jeffrey Lewis of the World Bank and Mrs. Channing Ardnt of Purdue University).
AIDS accentuates poverty while the access restricted to health services, the low level of education and the mobility of the labour force in South Africa and close country, tend to facilitate the progression of the disease.

In Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV in the world.
One in 20 adults in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be living with HIV.
In 2008, an estimated 1.9 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa became newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of people living with HIV to 22.4 million.
More than 14.1 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
The region also accounted for 72% of the world’s AIDS-related deaths in 2008.
In the nine countries in southern Africa most affected by HIV, prevalence among young women aged 15–24 years was on average about three times higher than among men of the same age (Gouws et al., 2008).