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ZIMBABWE: Mugabe acknowledges HIV/AIDS crisis

[Cote d'Ivoire] President Laurent Gbagbo in his study at the presidential residence in Abidjan. November 2004. IRIN
President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire
    ABIDJAN

    President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, in his first public acknowledgement of the AIDS crisis, has said that an
    estimated 1,200 people are dying in Zimbabwe each week from
    HIV/AIDS-related illnesses.

    Mugabe announced the casualty figures in a speech marking the country's 19th independence anniversary at the weekend.

    Government officials said an estimated 20 percent of the country's 12.7 million people were infected with the disease.

    A spokesperson for the national AIDS control programme told IRIN this week that between 1987 and June 1998 an estimated 33,250 women had died from AIDS-related illnesses. She said 725 children under five had died last year with 206 deaths reported among children in the 5-14 age group.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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