HIV/AIDS: in sub-Saharan Africa the fight goes on…

[5 January 2012 - 10h35]
[mis à jour le 6 January 2012 à 10h35]

Sub-Saharan Africa is still the region of the world most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In 2010, around 68% of the 34 million people in the world living with HIV lived in this region. And 70% of all new cases of infection are reported there too.

South Africa, for example, has more people who are HIV/AIDS positive than any other country on the planet. In South Africa, out of a population of 50 million there are 5.6 million people with HIV/AIDS: ie 11% of the total population! Fortunately, the number of deaths has been decreasing regularly since 1998. This is directly linked to the availability of antiretroviral drugs free of charge in this region.

According to the authors of the most recent global report from the United Nations Joint AIDS programme: “Between 2009 and 2010, antiretroviral coverage increased by 20% in sub-Saharan Africa”. More than 90% of the population of Namibia, Botswana and Rwanda, for example, now benefit from treatment free of charge where needed. In this region, the total number of cases of HIV infection has fallen by more than 26%. Today it has dropped below one million nine hundred thousand, compared with two million six hundred thousand at the height of the epidemic in 1997. In 22 of the 32 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the incidence of the disease declined by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009. These results concern some of the countries most affected by the worldwide epidemic: South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Although some tools seem to have functioned well, sub-Saharan Africa remains fragile in the face of the virus. The fight must continue, both in terms of prevention and also in terms of access to treatment.

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