Fertility could be more dangerous than AIDS

Africa's growing population could pose a greater threat to reducing poverty on the continent than HIV/AIDS, researchers said on Tuesday.

According to John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in some countries, such as Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa, the number of people was expected to remain static or decline, but the populations of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Somalia could treble to 40 million each by the middle of the century.

Cleland warned in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal that "fears about AIDS, although well founded, should not eclipse the issue of high fertility and population growth".

However, he acknowledged that AIDS was a major contributor to poverty, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and that its prevention should remain a high public health priority.