November 26, 1998. Copyright 1998. Graphic News. All rights 
reserved.

Millions of AIDS victims in Africa

LONDON, November 26 Graphic News: ABOUT 33 million people around 
the world are infected with HIV, two-thirds of them in 
sub-Saharan Africa, according to latest estimates published by 
the United Nations.
	The UN also forecasts there will be two million AIDS deaths in 
the region by the end of this year, four times the total for the 
rest of the world.
Botswana now has the highest prevalence of HIV infection 
worldwide, with one in every four adults being HIV positive. In 
Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, 20 percent of people aged 15-49 
are living with HIV or AIDS and eight percent of adults in all of 
sub-Saharan Africa are living with the virus.
While the estimated life expectancy in Botswana was 61 years 
between 1990 and 1995, this rate is expected to drop to 41 years 
by 2000. In the rest of sub-Saharan Africa HIV/AIDS has reduced 
life expectancy at birth to 47 years, which is seven years less 
than it would be without the epidemic.
ÔTwo decades into the AIDS epidemic, we know better than ever 
before about prevention, how to persuade people to protect 
themselves, make sure they have the necessary skills and back-up 
services, and remove social and economic barriers to effective 
prevention,Õ said UNAIDS Director Dr. Peter Piot.
ÔYet almost six million people became infected this year. Every 
one of these new HIV infections represents a prevention failure Ð 
our collective failure,Õ he said.
Of the 5.8 million new infections in 1998, 70 percent were in 
sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 10 percent in South Africa.
Combination drug therapies have reduced AIDS-related deaths in 
North America and western Europe. Last year AIDS accounted for 
16,685 American deaths, down from 31,130 in 1996 and 43,115 in 
1995, the peak year. 
/ENDS

Sources: Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Reuters, 
Associated Press