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AFRO-NETS> RFI: HIV/AIDS/SIDA in Sub-Saharan African military (14)
RFI: HIV/AIDS/SIDA in Sub-Saharan African military (14)
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Dear Denisa,
Thanks for your information. I just sent this to the Peace and Stabil-
ity in Africa Conference participants some of whom did not think AIDS
is an issue!!!
Comment by Holbrooke and peacekeepers toward the end.
Best regards,
Sarah Archer
mailto:[email protected]
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Farouk Chothia "South Africa: Majority of Population Faces HIV-
Infection Risk". BUSINESS DAY, 3 March, 2000. (Johannesburg) In South
African stratified probability sample of 2200 people over the age of 16
years in October and November, 1999 found that 55% to 65% of the popu-
lation to be exposed to extreme, substantial, or significant risk of
HIV infection. The current level of HIV infections is estimated to be
12% of the population with the peak infection rate projected to be 16%
by 2006. "ING Barings Southern Africa recently concluded that that SA's
supply of skilled labour would be reduced by 21% and the highly skilled
labour force by 12% by 2010, based on projections of 16% (infection
rate) peak."
Brian Halweil and Lester Brown, "Mbeki's Challenge: The HIV Epidemic".
Worldwatch News Brief, 7 June, 1999 (Washington, DC) HIV infection rate
among South African adults is estimated at 22 percent. The highest rate
is among young adults 15-24 years of age. "HIV's assault on young
adults is what makes the disease so economically damaging and socially
disruptive. The virus is poised to decimate South Africa's working-age
population: the fathers and mothers who support families, agronomists,
engineers, and teachers who form the cornerstone of the national devel-
opment effort. At the University of Durban-Westville in Kwazulu-Natal,
25 percent of the student body recently tested positive for HIV-a dis-
mal prospect for the nation's best and brightest." "While the economic
fallout from this massive loss of young adults is still poorly under-
stood, the epidemic is already beginning to cut into economic activity.
Rising worker health insurance costs are shrinking or even eliminating
company profit margins, forcing some into the red. In addition compa-
nies are faced with increases in sick leave, decreased productivity,
and rising costs for recruiting and retraining replacements. Countries
where labour forces have such high infection levels will find it in-
creasingly difficult to attract foreign investment." "A related effect
of the epidemic is a precipitous drop in life expectancy. As recently
as 1990, life expectancy ion South Africa stood at 59 years, among the
highest in Africa. But deaths from AIDS are projected to drive life ex-
pectancy below 40 years by 2010."
Fabyaba Mabuza "Own Up If You Have HIV: Swazi PM". AFRICAN EYE NEWS
SERVICE, 5 March, 2000 (South Africa) More than 22% of the almost one
million people living in the tiny kingdom (Swaziland) are believed to
be HIV-positive. Swaziland Prime Minister Sibisisc Diamini said that
public figures could "help re-affirm to the Swazi man on the street
that AIDS is a reality and has to be taken seriously."
Mildred Mulenga "AIDS Threatens TO Kill 10 Percent of South African
Miners" Panafrican News Agency, 8 March, 2000 (Lusaka, Zambia) "At
least 10 percent of South Africa's estimated 500,000 mine workers are
at risk of dying of AIDS every year unless something is done to slow
the rampant spread of HIV." Most of the mine workers are also infected
with tuberculosis and 75% of the miners with TB also are HIV positive.
Infections rates in Zambian miners will soon reach the South African
proportion. "Currently AIDS-related illnesses were responsible for the
death of 1 of every 1,000 mine workers in the Copperbelt every year.
".truck drivers were the other category of workers vulnerable to HIV
infection in the course of their travels. She (Marlea Clarke, re-
searcher, University of Cape Town) said AIDS-related illnesses strikes
three truck drivers daily. In her paper on HIV-AIDS and Labour Migra-
tion, Clarke suggested the development of a regional response which
recognises that HIV/AIDS is not just a national health problem but a
regional economic and development issue." According to Clarke more than
20% of all pregnant women in Zambia and Malawi are infected with HIV.
In Francistown, Botswana and Harare, Zimbabwe, 40% of all pregnant
women attending antenatal clinics are HIV infected. In Zimbabwe, AIDS
has reduced life expectancy by two years and in South Africa by at
least seven years. "AIDS has also eroded years of human progress.with
Zambia recording losses of more than 10 years, Tanzania eight, Malawi
and Zimbabwe between 3-5 years. The four Southern African countries
most affected by AIDS are Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe."
"HIV/AIDS Spread Threatens Economic Growth in Kenya" Panafrican News
Agency, 8 March, 2000, (Nairobi) Kenyan Planning and National Develop-
ment Minister Gideon Ndambuki said that ".the HIV/AIDS pandemic greatly
hampers poverty alleviation efforts by the government and blamed the
rural-urban migration in search of employment as a significant con-
tributor to the spread of the disease." He said because HIV/AIDS posed
a major challenge to economic developments I the country, there is a
need for concerted efforts towards controlling the pandemic of sustain-
able development was to be achieved." Seven percent of the Kenyan popu-
lation in 1998 was HIV positive, an increase from four percent in 1990.
He also noted that the number of AIDS orphans has shot up from 300,000
in 1995 to 860,000 in 2000, infant mortality rate increased 23 percent,
and under-five mortality increased by 26 percent during the same time
period. President Daniel arap Moi declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster
in 1999.
"Women, Children Main Victims of AIDS in Mali," Panafrican News Agency,
9 March, 2000 (Bamako, Mali). Diarra Afoussatou Theiro, Women and Chil-
dren Promotion and Familiy Minister, said thatb out of 48,000 AIDS
patierns in 1997, 40,000 were women. Mali also has 48,000 HIV-positive
children between the ages of one month and 14 years and 33,000 AIDS or-
phans. She added ".the control of AIDS will appear more and more as a
struggle for survival."
Kofi Adom Kaakyire "A Million Ghanaians Live with AIDS, Chanian Chroni-
cle, 10 March, 2000. (Accra) Dr Agyarko-Poku, a gynecologist at Komfo
Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi says that about one million people
are currently infected with AIDS nationwide (Ghana). He said that AIDS
kills one person each day in East Africa.
"Military Rulers Blamed for Increase in AIDS Infections. All Africa
News Agency, 10 March, 2000 (Lagos) The HIV infection rate among adult
Nigerians rose from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 5.4 percent in 1999. Health
officials estimate that that2.6 million people of the 108 million peo-
ple in Nigeria now live with HIV. "Reasons for the spread of HIV in-
clude the failure of pervious military rulers to address seriously the
dangers the virus poses.
Sunday Nation Correspondent "Graft Second to AIDS, PS Declares." The
Nation, 12 March, 2000. (Nairobi) "High-level corruption in the govern-
ment and private sector is the most serious problem threatening the
survival of the country after the HIV/AIDS pandemic." According to the
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Devel-
opment, Dr Kangethe Gitu. George F. Will "AIDS Crushes A Continent"
Newsweek, 10 January,.2000 Eleven people a minute worldwide are in-
fected with HIV, 10 of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Statistics show
that there are 1,600 new HIV infections a day in South Africa, com-
pounded by the rape of one woman every 26 seconds. In Namibia, Bot-
swana, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland-the other four countries in southern Af-
rica-one in four adults has HIV.
"Health-Congo: AIDS the Number One Cause of Death" IPS Wire 10 January,
2000. "AIDS is the chief cause of death among Congolese Armed Forces
servicemen, of whom 14 percent are infected with HIV, according to
armed forces health officials. AIDS caused over 60 percent of army
deaths between 1989 and 1993, according to Col. Prosper Kinzonzi, di-
rector of the First Military Zone's health service. Kinzonzi lists un-
safe commercial sex as the key cause of the rise in AIDS cases ion the
military. Rape is also a factor in the increase, as sexual violence be-
comes more common among soldiers."
Jon Jeter, "AIDS Sickening African Economies: Farms are Idle, Jobs Un-
filled" Washington Post, 12 December, 1999. "The AIDS epidemic in Af-
rica is sickening and weakening the agrarian economies of the conti-
nent, as an increasing part of the work force is unable to perform any
labor. AIDS is taking the lives of young men and women with young fami-
lies, causing many families to live on hand-outs and loans. It is esti-
mated that for the next two decades the continent's rate of economic
growth will slow 1.4 percentage points each year as a result of the di-
minishing labor pool. Over 5,000 people a day die from AIDS in Africa,
a number that some experts say could reach nearly 13,000 by 2005. In-
cluded among the many examples of companies affected by AIDS, Zambia's
largest cement company has seen a 15-fold increase in absenteeism since
1992. Uganda's railroad company has lost 15 percent of its work force
each year, and 11 percent of the workers at the South African electric
utility Eskom are reported to have HIV."
The World Bank Group, "HIV/AIDS in Africa: Highest Rates in the World".
(no date downloaded 18 March, 2000 from http://www.worldbank.org) "AIDS
is taking a devastating toll in human suffering and death in Africa.
With only ten percent of the world's population, Africa has 63 percent
of global HIV/AIDS cases..AIDS has exceeded malaria and other condi-
tions as the lading cause of adult death between the ages of 15 and 49
in Botswana, Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zim-
babwe, and in capital cities such as Abijan (Cote d'Ivoire); Addis
Ababa (Ethiopia); Nairobi (Kenya); and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Ar-
ticle goes on to describe World Bank-funded projects in Africa to re-
duce the spread of and impact of HIV/AIDS.
Ashley Baker. "U. N. Peacekeepers Spreading AIDS, US Says" UPI 8 March,
2000 "Some United Nations peacekeepers are 'unintentionally' spreading
HIV in the countries they are trying to help, according to Richard Hol-
brooke, the US Ambassador to the United Nations. Holbrooke asserted 'As
long as I am ambassador, the United States will never again vote for a
peacekeeping resolution that does not require specific action by the
(U.N.) to prevent AIDS from spreading by or to peacekeepers.' Lawmakers
are trying to gain support for a $100 million trust fund that, over the
course of five years, would be used to fight AIDS in sub-Saharan Af-
rica, India, and the former Soviet Union."
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