Some countries making progress in HIV/AIDS prevention - UN

There is growing evidence that HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in some of the most heavily affected countries in Africa are bearing fruit, a UN report said this week. Despite these signs of hope, "HIV/AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, it is the fourth-biggest killer," said Dr John Ohiorhenuan, UN Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator for the UN Development Programme. Speaking at the release of the report in Johannesburg, Ohiorhenuan told journalists that efforts in countries like Uganda, Senegal and Zambia provided a glimmer of hope for the rest of the continent. According to the UNAIDS report, 'AIDS Epidemic Update 2001', a new study in Zambia shows that urban men and women are reporting less sexual activity, fewer multiple partners and more consistent use of condoms. HIV prevalence in the country is declining in urban areas, especially among young women between the 15 and 24, the report said. A strong and highly developed community response to AIDS has been reported as the main reason behind Zambia's success. Mission hospitals and health education projects have adopted innovative approaches to their prevention and awareness initiatives, while urban community mobilisation programmes have reduced the levels of STD incidence in the country. Progress had also been made with treatment and care, the report said. Botswana is the first country in the Southern African region to begin providing antiretroviral drugs through its public health system. Uganda - the first African country to subdue a major HIV/AIDS epidemic - had continued to show a decline in its HIV prevalence rates. HIV prevalence in pregnant women in urban areas has fallen for eight years in a row, from 29.5 percent in 1992 to 11.25 percent in 2000. Uganda has largely concentrated on information, education and communication programmes that have been decentralised to reach every rural village. These efforts have also boosted condom use in the country. According to the report, there were still huge challenges and new infections were still occurring at a high rate. By the end of 1999, 1.7 million children had lost a mother or both parents to the disease, the report added. Ignorance was still another hurdle for other countries to overcome. More than 70 percent of teenage girls in Somalia and more than 40 percent in Guinea-Bissau had never heard of HIV/AIDS, UNICEF said in the report. Most Africans living with HIV/AIDS did not know they were infected. A survey conducted by Kenya's Population Council this year revealed that more than half of the women they surveyed who had acquired HIV/AIDS had not told their partners, because they feared being beaten or abandoned. HIV/AIDS has become the biggest threat to the continent's development. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa could lose 20 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) because of the pandemic, Ohiorhenuan said. For more details, see the report http://www.unaids.org/epidemic_update/report_dec01/index.html