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AIDS overtakes malaria as prime killer

    JOHANNESBURG

    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.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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