More than two-thirds of the estimated 33.4 million people in the world living with HIV/AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to latest figures by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS.
For the first time, AIDS this year outstripped malaria as the prime source of health-related death in Africa, AFP reported. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in eastern and southern Africa, AIDS is now claiming more lives than warfare, the continent's traditional scourge.
"AIDS has been around for only 20 years, but it is already killing more people than any other infectious disease," noted Peter Piot, UNAIDS' executive director, presenting the WHO's annual report on world health.
In Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, AIDS or HIV has hit a quarter of people aged between 15 and 49, and life expectancy has shrivelled from 70 to just 40-45 years.
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