Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5.41 million people in the country were HIv positive while 1000 new infections
occurred daily (wines 2006). It is predicted that the number will increase to 6 million
by 2015, by which time approximately 5.4 million people will have died of the
disease (Dorrington et al. 2006a). It is widely believed that almost half of all deaths
in the country and an astonishing 71 percent of deaths among HIv-positive people
aged between 15 and 49 are caused by aIDS (21). the situation is so severe in parts
of the country that cemeteries are running out of space due to the number of deaths
(wines 2004). a poll in 2004 found that South africans spent on average more time
at funerals than they did shopping or at barbershops. It also found that in any given
month twice as many South africans could be found at a funeral than at a wedding
(South african advertising research Foundation 2004).
today, average life expectancy has decreased to 54 years, down from an
estimated 64 years prior to a decade ago. More than half of the country's 15 year
olds will not live long past the age of 60 (Dorrington et al. 2006a, ii). Hospitals
can barely cope with the dramatic in-flow of HIV-positive patients seeking medical
care. In 2006, HIv-positive patients accounted for more than 60 percent of medical
expenditure in the country's public hospitals (Palitza 2006). According to Statistics
South africa, between 1997 and 2004 adult mortality among people aged 15 to 64
increased, largely due to aIDS-related deaths (lehohla 2006). over the past decade
young adults, particularly women, have been especially hard hit by the disease.
From 1997 to 2004 the death rate for women aged 20 to 39 more than tripled and
doubled for men aged 30 to 44. UnaIDS (2008) estimates that approximately 58
percent of HIv-positive people in the country are women. looking at all age groups,
the relevant government department has recorded an increasing number of deaths
due to HIv/aIDS from 1997 to 2005. Pali lehohla (2006), head of Statistics South
africa, said 'a large part of this increase can be attributed to HIv, where death rates
have a distinctive age pattern in which there is an increase to a given age and then a
rapid decline at older ages'.
even more disturbing is the fact that HIv/aIDS activists around the country
and international health organisations working with nGos have long argued that
many more deaths are believed to have been caused by HIv/aIDS, even though
they are often recorded as being due to another cause. both UnaIDS and Statistics
South africa have noted that the percentage of HIv-positive pregnant women at
public antenatal clinics increased from 1 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 1997 and
30 percent by 2004 (Knight 2006). according to the South african Department of
Health (2007), the HIv-prevalence rate among pregnant women was estimated at
29 percent in 2006. taking into account this factor among many others to assess the
projected outlook for the disease in the country, both UnaIDS and Statistics South
africa have reiterated a point that many had long believed was true: HIv/aIDS
deaths will likely continue to increase in South africa for the foreseeable future.
The South African government has come under fire both domestically from
HIv/aIDS activists and nGos and from international health organisations and
governments for its slow response to the pandemic, particularly for its reluctance to
provide art for a number of years. as president, thabo Mbeki and his minister of
 
 
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