Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe has 1,6m Aids orphans - Senate

COMMENT - AID$ figures in Africa are buggier than a stray dog. This screaming headline about 'orphans' tries desperately to hide that the official HIV rate in Zimbabwe has been written down. All these numbers are estimates, based on flawed epidemiology and testing. If you really want to know why national HIV ESTIMATES in Zimbabwe went from 33% in 1999 to 13% in 2009, read:

How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated - Reliance on Data From Urban Prenatal Clinics Skewed Early Projections, by Craig Timberg in the Washington Post (Thursday, April 6, 2006), and

Estimates on HIV called too high
New data cut rates for many nations
By John Donnelly, Globe Staff | June 20, 2004

There never were 33% of Zimbabweans who were 'HIV positive', and I seriously doubt that 13.7% of Zimbabweans are HIV positive today.

Zimbabwe has 1,6m Aids orphans: Senate
by Lebo Nkatazo
31/03/2011 00:00:00

A STAGGERING 1,5 million Zimbabweans aged between 15 and 49 are HIV positive, according to a shock new report published by the Senate. The disease, by far the biggest killer in Africa, has orphaned 1,6 million Zimbabwean children.

Every year, about 40,000 children die from HIV/Aids, which was declared a national disaster by the government in 2002, the report adds. But despite the shocking figures, the Senate said infections were on the DECLINE.

“There are about 1,6 million children that are orphaned and made vulnerable mainly due to HIV and AIDS. Approximately 2,300 people are still dying weekly due to HIV related illnesses,” the report said.
“There are about 159,000 children who are infected with HIV and about 40,000 die annually due to HIV related infections.”

Senators pointed to failures at the National Aids Council, the government body which administers the Aids Levy and coordinates other funding and national programmes to fight the disease.

The National Aids Council has a “weak monitoring and evaluation mechanism” and is burdened by staff shortages to sufficiently fulfill its mandate, according to the report.

Although the total population of Zimbabweans infected by HIV tops a million, only 318,000 people are receiving Antiretroviral Therapy (ART).

“The general prevalence rate has been declining over the past eight years from a high of about 33% in 1999, 23% in 2001 to 13.7% in 2009. This is attributed to high knowledge levels on HIV and AIDS issues and effective implementation of the Behaviour Change Strategy,” the report added.

More women (21 percent) are infected than men (14 percent).

The 'First Report of the Senate Thematic Committee on HIV and Aids and Access to Treatment' also found that girls aged between 15 and 19 are the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection.

Labels: CORRUPTION, HIV/AIDS

posted by MrK @ 7:44 PM