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Research conducted by 44 mining and manufacturing companies in South Africa, Botswana and Zambia revealed an average HIV-positive rate of over 17 percent, although in several companies more than one in four workers were infected.
In one of the biggest regional surveys of HIV prevalence among formally employed workers, 18 percent of South African miners were found to be positive, and 17 percent of metal workers. The average infection rate for the country was over 14 percent.
Findings revealed that 16 percent of the South African male workers were HIV-positive, and 10 percent of the women. Contract workers were 23 percent infected, with unskilled and semi-skilled workers, both at 18 percent, more likely to be infected than skilled workers at 10 percent, or managers at 4.5 percent.
The survey results were published in the February 2004 edition of the South African Medical Journal.
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