Africa: AIDS SOS

Unless there is a serious effort by the international community to reverse the trend of HIV infection in some parts of Africa, countries like Botswana are doomed to a certain future: extinction.

In diamond-rich Botswana, 39% of the adult population are infected with HIV, a figure which is translated into 1.6 million people, affecting a far wider population span, when children are taken into account. In some areas of the country, over 50% of the adult population is infected, namely in the north-east and among pregnant mothers in the country’s main cities.

Botswana’s government has tried to stem the growth of the infection rates through an educational programme, but to no avail. Now, Botswana becomes the first African nation to distribute anti-retroviral drugs for free.

AIDS is seriously affecting the economy of this country, which is expected to diminish by a third by 2021 due to the ravages caused by the disease.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru