AIDS in South Africa
- Joan Stephenson, PhD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- AIDS
- HIV INFECTIONS
- SOUTH AFRICA
New data suggest that the incidence of new infections in South Africa may be leveling off, according to a report from the country's Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za/docs/reports/2004/hiv-syphilis.pdf).
(Photo credit: Gilles Dumoulin/iStockphoto.com)
The Department of Health’s report, which presented the results of a 2005 antenatal survey in all 9 of South Africa's provinces, found that about 30.2% of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics for the first time were infected with HIV compared with 29.5% in 2004. Estimated HIV prevalence among females in their teens was 15.9% compared with 16.1% in 2004—not a statistically significant decline “but may be an indicator of declines in HIV prevalence in this age group,” the report noted. “This might imply a sustained change in behavior among young people, including engaging in safer sexual practices such as being in mutually faithful relationships.”
Extrapolating from the survey data, the department estimated that 5.5 million individuals …
