Activists question AIDS reduction claims

Zimbabwean AIDS activists have disputed recent claims by the government that there has been a significant dip in national HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. The Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, announced in August that the incidence of HIV/AIDS infection among the country's adults had dropped by nearly 10 percent in just three years. However, a local NGO, Zimbabwe Activists on HIV and AIDS (ZAHA), has questioned the manner in which health authorities carried out their latest survey. The Zimbabwe Standard newspaper quoted ZAHA spokesman, Tapiwa Kujinga, as saying: "The people who conducted the survey are unknown and the statistical projections, worryingly, differ from those highlighted by the more credible UNAIDS organisation." UNAIDS estimated that 33.7 percent of all adults in Zimbabwe aged between 15 and 49 were living with HIV/AIDS.