HIV/AIDS study underway at Bangui university

A study is currently in progress to determine the role of HIV/AIDS in the high death rate among lecturers and students at the University of Bangui, in the Central African Republic, an official told IRIN on Saturday. "The study will show those who died of HIV/AIDS or other diseases and those who were absent because of other reasons," Frederic Nguile, the director of planning and archives at the university, said. The study is being undertaken by a group of lecturers. Nguile said that it was feared that 50 percent of the deaths were due to HIV/AIDS. He said three lecturers died during the 2001-2002 academic year, and nine of them died in the previous academic year. He added that hypertension was said to be the second cause of death at the university. The university has a total of 918 teaching staff, including those on permanent terms and contractual assistants. It had 5,536 students registered in the 2001-2002 academic year. Nguile said that although several deaths had occurred among the students, most of them were not reported to the university administration. He said in 2001-2002, three percent of the 1,797 students at the college of social sciences and languages did not register to continue with studies following year, as did one percent of the 1,420 students at the college of law and economic sciences. In an address to the students and lecturers on Saturday during the presentation of new staff members, the new rector of the university, Isaac Benguemalet, urged those gathered to undergo medical tests "as soon as possible" to establish their HIV status. Nguile announced that the university's administration, in consultation with the faculty of medicine, was working on how to help organise for the testing of the lecturers and the students. According to a study conducted by Institut Pasteur in December 2002, 14.8 percent of the country's population is HIV-positive.