HIV/AIDS in South Africa is a prominent health concern; South Africa is believed to have more people with HIV/AIDS than any other country in the world.
The 2007 UNAIDS report estimated that 5,700,000 South Africans had HIV/AIDS, or just under 12% of South Africa's population of 48 million. In the adult population, excluding children, the rate is 18.10%. The number of infected is larger than in any other single country in the world. The other top five countries with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence are all neighbours of South Africa.
In 2007, only 28% of people in South Africa with advanced HIV/AIDS were receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART). In 2004, 2005 and 2006 the figures were 4%, 15% and 21% respectively. By 2009, nearly 1 million or about 2% of all adult South Africans were receiving ART, of which 38% were children.
In 2010, some 280,000 South Africans died of HIV/AIDS. In the aughts, between 42% and 47% of all deaths among South Africans were HIV/AIDS deaths.
Although new infections among mature age groups in South Africa remain high, new infections among teenagers seem to be on the decline. HIV/AIDS prevalence figures in the 15–19 year age group for 2005, 2006 and 2007 were 16%, 14% and 13% respectively.
Read more about HIV/AIDS In South Africa: Prevalence, Economic Impact, Awareness Campaigns, Co-infection With Tuberculosis, History of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, Demographics, The Role of The Media in South Africa's Epidemic
Famous quotes containing the words aids, south and/or africa:
“It could be said that the AIDS pandemic is a classic own-goal scored by the human race against itself.”
—(B. 1950)
“A friend and I flew south with our children. During the week we spent together I took off my shoes, let down my hair, took apart my psyche, cleaned the pieces, and put them together again in much improved condition. I feel like a car that’s just had a tune-up. Only another woman could have acted as the mechanic.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)
“In Africa I had indeed found a sufficiently frightful kind of loneliness but the isolation of this American ant heap was even more shattering.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)