More than five million AIDS deaths predicted by 2011

HIV/AIDS-related illnesses could kill more than five million South Africans by 2011, with the figure rising to nine or 10 million by 2021, new research suggests. The University of South Africa (UNISA) report, 'A Projection of the South African Population, 2001 to 2021', estimates that the annual number of deaths between 2007 and 2011 could exceed 500,000 per year. Research director Prof Carel van Aardt of UNISA's Bureau of Market Research, said the pandemic would especially impact on population growth among the black and mixed-race populations over the next seven years, while "a complex combination of HIV/AIDS and population ageing" would influence deaths in the white population. The Asian/Indian population would not be highly affected.