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AIDS in Africa

Last reviewed: 03-12-2008

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA'S BIGGEST KILLER


A Kenyan AIDS patient displays her dosage of ARVs in Nairobi, 2006.<BR> REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
A Kenyan AIDS patient displays her dosage of ARVs in Nairobi, 2006.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest HIV rates in the world. Two-thirds of people with HIV live in this region, even though it is home to only 12 percent of the world's population, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Most of them are not aware of their status.

  • 22 million people are HIV-positive
  • Girls and women becoming infected more rapidly than men
  • Life expectancy in Zimbabwe now 43 for women

    In the worst-affected countries, AIDS has been a key factor in lowering the national life expectancy. Zimbabwe, for example, now has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world - 43 years for women and 44 for men - according to the U.N. World Health Organisation. Between 2005 and 2006, Zimbabwean women's life expectancy dropped by two years.

    But not all of sub-Saharan Africa is blighted by high infection rates. Many countries have infection rates of less than 2 percent.

    Experts are increasingly concerned about the growing infection rate among girls and young women in Africa.

    KEY FACTS


    People in sub-Saharan Africa with HIV/AIDS 22 million (UNAIDS, 2008)
    Proportion of HIV-positive population which is female 60 percent (UNAIDS, 2008)
    Total number of Africans killed by AIDS Over 22 million (World Bank, 2007)
    Number of Africans killed by AIDS in 2007 1.5 million (UNAIDS, 2008)
    Number of children in sub-Saharan Africa who have lost one or both parents to AIDS 11.4 million (UNAIDS, 2008)
    Countries with more than 20 percent adults (aged 15-49) infected include: Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UNAIDS, 2008)

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    Protesters demonstrating against what they say is a lack of access to antiretroviral drugs carry a mock coffin on World AIDS Day in Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 1, 2009. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde ...


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