21 November 2007
The Department of Health notes the AIDS Epidemic update report released by
the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) yesterday providing an
overview of the spread of HIV infection and the impact of AIDS in various
regions of the world.
It is important to highlight that the suggestion in the report that South
Africa has the largest number of people with HIV, does not necessarily imply
that there have been a sudden increase in the prevalence of HIV in the country.
The report indicates that the prevalence rate of other countries have been
revised downwards in this year's report.
The report confirms the findings of other studies that suggest that South
Africa may be at a point where we should begin to witness a downward trend in
the prevalence of HIV. This downward trend has been predicted in the UNAIDS
spectrum model and other independent South African models.
The UNAIDS report (page 16) further makes the following observation about
South Africa: "The decrease in HIV prevalence among young pregnant women (15 to
24 years) suggests a possible decline in the annual number of new
infections."
The Department of Health believes that this trend needs to be sustained
through strengthen of the country's prevention programmes targeting the youth
and sustaining safer sexual behaviour.
According to the latest HIV Antenatal Survey Report (2006), the number of
people who are estimated to have HIV infection is in the region of 5,41
million. This estimate is lower than the previous estimate of the same survey
of 5,54 million in 2005.
Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
Issued by: Department of Health
21 November 2007
