HEALTH: AIDS is Ravaging Africa

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jun 25 2002 (IPS) - AIDS is destroying sub-Saharan Africa, where over 28 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today, a specialised United Nations agency warned the Group of Eight (G-8) leading industrial countries on the eve of their summit in Canada.

AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) has led to an at least four percent drop in the economic growth of sub-Saharan Africa, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) told the G-8, which is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In the hardest-hit African nations, labour productivity has been cut by up to 50 percent, and “by 2020, over 25 percent of the workforce may be lost to AIDS in some severely affected countries,” says the UNAIDS statement.

The UNAIDS released the latest data on the AIDS epidemic in Africa, which shows that 30 percent of the adult population tests positive for HIV (Human Immunedeficiency Virus) in some countries, in a document that will be discussed Wednesday by G-8 leaders in Kananaskis, Alberta in Canada.

According to the last UNAIDS report, in late 2000 there were 25.3 million HIV-positive people in sub-Saharan Africa and 36.1 million worldwide. The current global total is 40 million, UNAIDS director of social mobilisation and information, Marika Fahlen, reported two weeks ago.

The new statistics on Africa disclosed Tuesday are a preview of the annual report that UNAIDS will distribute next week, ahead of the 14th International AIDS Conference to be held Jul 7-12 in Barcelona, Spain.

The UNAIDS press release announcing the publication of the annual report, subject to embargo until Jul 2, warns that the global AIDS mortality rate will rise fast in the next two decades, especially in China, Russia, Indonesia and West Africa.

But some countries, like Zambia, Poland and Cambodia, have implemented successful prevention programmes, and according to UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, “The facts about AIDS in Africa are harsh, but there is hope.

“Some nations have successfully turned back the epidemic with well-funded, government-supported national AIDS programmes,” said the official. “These efforts must be expanded to reach every person in sub-Saharan Africa. Investment in AIDS will be repaid a thousand-fold in lives saved, communities held together, and economies preserved.”

Piot underlined that “Every element of African society – from teachers to soldiers to farmers – is under attack by AIDS,” and the devastating effect of the disease is “rolling back” decades of progress towards development in the region.

The latest statistics on sub-Saharan Africa paint a grim panorama of the situation in rural areas, where seven million AIDS- related deaths have severely reduced farm yields.

One out of five rural families in Burkina Faso have had to limit their work in the fields or even abandon their farms due to AIDS.

With fewer hands available to work, families have been forced to farm smaller plots or dedicate themselves to “less labour- intensive subsistence crops, which often have lower nutritional and market value,” says the statement.

UNAIDS also pointed to the epidemic’s effects on the security forces of many African nations, where the proportion of soldiers testing positive for HIV ranges between 20 and 40 percent. But in nations where HIV/AIDS has been present for over a decade, that proportion is as high as 50 to 60 percent.

The economic contraction caused by AIDS has led to a reduction in public revenues, while public employees are dying of the disease.

Under such conditions, governments are unable to address the needs of the population, and “As essential services such as health, welfare, and justice falter, the most poor and vulnerable households endure the worst of the consequences,” the statement warns.

UNAIDS estimates that the government of Botswana, for example, will have lost 20 percent of its revenues by 2010 because of AIDS. And in Kenya, the deaths of three out of four police officers are caused by AIDS.