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AS AIDS DEATHS RISE, MORE ACCURATE DATA ARRIVES
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Yes, new statistics on AIDS-related morality is ‘bad news’. It is depressing reading, and the steady drumbeat of such unpleasantness is making the act of following AIDS grim and increasingly unpopular.
There has been a lot of criticism about the local media not presenting more on AIDS, and this is true. But unacknowledged in this criticism is that it is an unpopular subject for readers, who can only be expected to remain enthusiastic for so long when a story with no end in sight can only offer unrelenting grimness.
That is why this column attempts to trumpet whenever we can medical breakthroughs, new services, the arrival of funding and assistance, and the many stories of personal bravery, service and devotion to our fellow human beings that have emerged from the AIDS crisis.
With that in mind, today’s focus is again on the unpleasant but necessary presentation of how truly fundamental AIDS’ impact has been on us all. The disease is not only changing the way we live, it is altering our lives in a very basic way.
The South African Institute of Race Relations blames HIV and AIDS for more and younger deaths in Southern Africa according to a new study released by the institute this past week.
In Swaziland, life expectancy had risen by last decade to an historic high, when a man or woman could expect to live until his or her seventh decade on average. That figure has been cut by at least a third, so that the average newborn is unlikely to see forty due to AIDS. Regionally, according to the new report, average life expectancy declined from 62 years in 1990 to 50 years in 2007.
Life expectancy is projected to fall even further by 2011, to 48 years for men and 51 for women.
rates
Of South Africa’s nine provinces, those with the highest HIV prevalence rates also had the lowest life expectancy - KwaZulu-Natal at 43 years, followed by Free State and Mpumalanga, both at 47 years.
AIDS ruins an individual’s immune system, allowing ‘opportunistic diseases’ to have free run of a defenceless body. The survey found that the leading causes of death were tuberculosis (TB), influenza and pneumonia, which are the principal opportunistic infections associated with HIV and AIDS.
The HIV and AIDS-TB link discussed in a recent AIDS LIFELINE column is given statistical foundation by the study, which found that next door in South Africa, 70 % of people diagnosed with TB in South Africa were co-infected with HIV.
The report noted that “it is reasonable to assume that at least 70 % of observed mortality from tuberculosis, and by extension a comparable percentage of deaths from influenza/pneumonia, also has HIV and AIDS as an underlying cause.”
In that country, about half of all deaths in 2008 were thought to be HIV and AIDS related. This figure has risen by a third from 2001.
reduction
Although the HIV and AIDS epidemic contributed to a 43 % reduction in population growth between 2001 and 2008, a decline in birth rates also played a role.
There is evidence that regionally fewer children are being born. The reason is morbid, and due entirely to AIDS: more young adults who would normally be expected to be having children are dying of AIDS.
AIDS LIFELINE ran into an AIDS activist who is stationed in the Manzini region north of the city. He remarked that by tradition, weekends have always been reserved in Swazi society for funerals.
However, in recent times, and certainly since the past two years, “The funerals, they are every day.”
The result, while fewer children may be coming into the world, more children are orphans. HIV and AIDS is creating an increasing number of them. An estimated 2.5 million children lost a parent by 2007, and of these more than half were orphaned as a result of HIV and AIDS.
According to the survey, by 2015, 32 % of South African children will have lost one or both parents to the virus.
implications
The study has political implications, particularly in South Africa. One commentator wrote, “The report was released amid mounting controversy over mortality figures quoted by President Jacob Zuma during a speech on 29 October. (Zuma) said that 756 000 deaths had been recorded in 2008 - an astounding 30 percent increase from the previous year.”
The commentator as well as such AIDS groups as Treatment Action Campaign, applauded the South African president for his candor when he attributed the increase in deaths to AIDS. Treatment Action Campaign said the admission represented “the ushering in of a new era after a decade of government denial about the extent of AIDS by former President Thabo Mbeki.”
Only by having and disseminating correct information can we formulate effective policies on any topic, in this case a public health response to AIDS.
There has been a lot of criticism about the local media not presenting more on AIDS, and this is true. But unacknowledged in this criticism is that it is an unpopular subject for readers, who can only be expected to remain enthusiastic for so long when a story with no end in sight can only offer unrelenting grimness.
That is why this column attempts to trumpet whenever we can medical breakthroughs, new services, the arrival of funding and assistance, and the many stories of personal bravery, service and devotion to our fellow human beings that have emerged from the AIDS crisis.
With that in mind, today’s focus is again on the unpleasant but necessary presentation of how truly fundamental AIDS’ impact has been on us all. The disease is not only changing the way we live, it is altering our lives in a very basic way.
The South African Institute of Race Relations blames HIV and AIDS for more and younger deaths in Southern Africa according to a new study released by the institute this past week.
In Swaziland, life expectancy had risen by last decade to an historic high, when a man or woman could expect to live until his or her seventh decade on average. That figure has been cut by at least a third, so that the average newborn is unlikely to see forty due to AIDS. Regionally, according to the new report, average life expectancy declined from 62 years in 1990 to 50 years in 2007.
Life expectancy is projected to fall even further by 2011, to 48 years for men and 51 for women.
rates
Of South Africa’s nine provinces, those with the highest HIV prevalence rates also had the lowest life expectancy - KwaZulu-Natal at 43 years, followed by Free State and Mpumalanga, both at 47 years.
AIDS ruins an individual’s immune system, allowing ‘opportunistic diseases’ to have free run of a defenceless body. The survey found that the leading causes of death were tuberculosis (TB), influenza and pneumonia, which are the principal opportunistic infections associated with HIV and AIDS.
The HIV and AIDS-TB link discussed in a recent AIDS LIFELINE column is given statistical foundation by the study, which found that next door in South Africa, 70 % of people diagnosed with TB in South Africa were co-infected with HIV.
The report noted that “it is reasonable to assume that at least 70 % of observed mortality from tuberculosis, and by extension a comparable percentage of deaths from influenza/pneumonia, also has HIV and AIDS as an underlying cause.”
In that country, about half of all deaths in 2008 were thought to be HIV and AIDS related. This figure has risen by a third from 2001.
reduction
Although the HIV and AIDS epidemic contributed to a 43 % reduction in population growth between 2001 and 2008, a decline in birth rates also played a role.
There is evidence that regionally fewer children are being born. The reason is morbid, and due entirely to AIDS: more young adults who would normally be expected to be having children are dying of AIDS.
AIDS LIFELINE ran into an AIDS activist who is stationed in the Manzini region north of the city. He remarked that by tradition, weekends have always been reserved in Swazi society for funerals.
However, in recent times, and certainly since the past two years, “The funerals, they are every day.”
The result, while fewer children may be coming into the world, more children are orphans. HIV and AIDS is creating an increasing number of them. An estimated 2.5 million children lost a parent by 2007, and of these more than half were orphaned as a result of HIV and AIDS.
According to the survey, by 2015, 32 % of South African children will have lost one or both parents to the virus.
implications
The study has political implications, particularly in South Africa. One commentator wrote, “The report was released amid mounting controversy over mortality figures quoted by President Jacob Zuma during a speech on 29 October. (Zuma) said that 756 000 deaths had been recorded in 2008 - an astounding 30 percent increase from the previous year.”
The commentator as well as such AIDS groups as Treatment Action Campaign, applauded the South African president for his candor when he attributed the increase in deaths to AIDS. Treatment Action Campaign said the admission represented “the ushering in of a new era after a decade of government denial about the extent of AIDS by former President Thabo Mbeki.”
Only by having and disseminating correct information can we formulate effective policies on any topic, in this case a public health response to AIDS.
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