SWAZILAND: HIV and AIDS

With a population of just over one million people, Swaziland now has one of the fastest rates of HIV infection in the world. A recent report by UNICEF said that because of the small size of the Swazi population the epidemic could create very high dependency ratios. The report said there are more than 300,000 Swazis currently living with HIV and between the year 2000 and 2014, it is estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 people will die annually. It said even if no new infections occurred in 1999 the number of deaths and orphans will remain high for the next 10 to 30 years. It said that the number of HIV positive children would reach 20,000 to 25,000 by the year 2000 and this constituted about four to five percent of children under the age of 15. UNICEF added that the number of children living in families with HIV/AIDS would be between 125,000 and 165,000 by 2000, 30 percent of all children under the age of 15. UNICEF said AIDS had already caused a marked increase in mortality, pushed up health care costs and increased the pressure on an already overburdened health care system. "There is no sector preparedness within the government which has a false sense of security that the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is taking care of the issue." It said: "The cost of failure to develop a comprehensive AIDS strategy is enormous, including a loss of productivity, social unrest from marginalised children and youth, high disease burden and overstretched health services." It continued: "Increased demands for care of HIV/AIDS infected persons and their families will result in a diversion of resources from other sectors." A health care worker told IRIN that educators and care givers faced a number of difficulties. She said that one of the biggest obstacles was the stigma attached to having HIV/AIDS. "People are still living in denial, there is almost a feeling that this is not taking place in our communities. Families with an AIDS patient won't bring that person to a clinic for treatment because there fear that they will become isolated from rest of the community." She added: "We have to get people talking openly about the disease first." The health care worker told IRIN that there is very little support coming from government and most of the work with HIV/AIDS patients is being done by non governmental organisations (NGO's). "We don't have enough money to care for all those who need out help, especially those in the more remote areas of Swaziland."