New strategy to combat HIV/AIDS

A new strategy to combat HIV/AIDS will be launched in Malawi at the end of this month, news reports said on Monday. “This is a strategy that provides a common vision on the fight against HIV/AIDS, it provides a common platform for resource mobilisation and allocation,” said Owen Kaluwa, head of the strategic planning unit at the country’s national AIDS control programme. Malawi has an estimated population of 10 million. But by the end of 1997, nearly 1 million people had tested HIV positive. A study by the government and the World Bank says that life expectancy will drop to about 44 years by 2010. It said that 25 percent of the urban workforce is likely to die from HIV/AIDS in the next ten years, resulting in the epidemic being the most critical challenge to Malawi’s economic development. According to news reports the estimated financial costs of caring for an AIDS patient until he or she dies is between US $200 and US $900, nearly four times the country’s per capita income and much higher than the per capita health budget. Nearly 70,000 children will be orphaned annually by the epidemic, the study said.