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Business analysts have said the impact of HIV/AIDS on South African skills base is causing a negative effect on the economy, the South African Press Association reported.
Speaking during the inaugural Private Sector Conference on HIV/AIDS in Johannesburg recently, Russell Lamberti, of local researchers Econometrix, said this was due to the country losing people in the prime of their lives, who should otherwise be productive members of its economy.
Figures from the University of KwaZulu-Natal's HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), showed that between 1998 and 2004 the rate of mortality among those aged between 20 and 49 was double that of 50 to 59-year-olds as a result of the pandemic.
HEARD executive director Alan Whiteside said the country's responses were "looking at the wrong things", and the only way to address the issues at hand was to focus more on HIV prevention intervention.
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