HIV and AIDS

HIV in South Africa

South Africa has the greatest number of people living with HIV in its population out of all the countries in the world!

UNAids estimates indicate that 5.7 million out of nearly 48 million South Africans are living with HIV, an increase from 5.5 million in 2005. But only about a million people are getting the cocktail of ARVs that prevent people with HIV from developing full-blown Aids.

African women aged 20 to 34, remain the group most at risk with an HIV prevalence of nearly 33 percent; men aged between 25 and 49 have the second highest risk profile with an infection rate of 24 percent.

294,000 children below the age of 15 were living with HIV (HIV positive) in 2006. 6% of all children born in South Africa are infected with HIV during pregnancy, at birth or breastfeeding. This equates to 64,000 babies every year. It is preventable by giving antiretroviral treatment to the mothers during pregnancy.

Average life expectancy declined from 62 years in 1990 to 50 years in 2007; it is projected to fall even further by 2011, to 48 years for men and 51 for women, according to the South Africa Institute of Race Relations' annual South Africa Survey. South Africa is one of only six out of 27 countries surveyed where life expectancy fell between 1990 and 2007, with only Zimbabwe showing a steeper decline.

Of South Africa's nine provinces, KwaZulu-Natal with the highest HIV prevalence rate also had the lowest life expectancy - at 43 years, followed by Free State and Mpumalanga, both at 47 years.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has contributed to a 43 percent reduction in population growth between 2001 and 2008; a fall in birth rates also played a role.