Independent
On-Line, 05 December 2002, Kids are parents to a million Aids orphans
Children are mothers
and fathers to a million Aids orphans. This is one of the more heart-rending
findings of a major study on HIV and Aids released on Thursday.
The report, funded by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and done by the Human
Sciences
Research Council (HSRC), found that 3,3 percent of households - an estimated one
million people in 300 000 households - in
The study has not translated percentages into numbers, but the figures are
estimated on the assumption there are 10 million households and at least four
people in every home.
The report, the first systematically sampled national survey of HIV and Aids,
has called on government to roll out the provision of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to
people living with Aids as soon as possible.
It also urged government to take steps to reduce the
price of drugs by removing VAT from medicines and encouraging the local
manufacturing industry.
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It recommends wide-ranging steps to improve the
treatment and prevention of the virus and to devote more resources to care
facilities for people living with Aids.
Noting strong public support for the provision of
ARVs, the report commends government for its April 17 statement on rolling out
ARVs for HIV-positive mothers and the victims of sexual assaults and for
significantly increasing state resources to counter the pandemic.
But it says the rollout of ARVs is just as urgent for
all people living with Aids.
Mandela
and the HSRC team briefed the presidency, the health department and other
government stakeholders before the release of the report.
Government committed itself to a treatment programme
for HIV-positive mothers and victims of sexual assault in April.
It later opened the door to the broader provision of
ARVs at a cabinet meeting in October, when it announced that it had set up a
joint committee of the treasury and the health department to determine the cost
of providing ARVs.
Mandela unveiled the comprehensive study at the
Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday, after launching a joint private
sector-funded programme on Tuesday with the Medical Association of South Africa
to provide about 9 000 public health sector patients with ARVs at 18 pilot
sites.
Mandela's moves to push forward the HIV and Aids
treatment, prevention and care programmes also coincides with a draft agreement
reached last weekend between government, labour and business for a comprehensive
plan to make drugs and treatment available to all people living with Aids.
The study - headed by former director-general of
health and HSRC director Olive Shisana, and Leikness Simbayi, the HSRC's
director of research - found that the prevalence of the virus has little to do
with race and everything to do with socio-economic conditions.
While the report found that Africans aged 15 to 49
(18,4 percent) are much more susceptible to the virus than whites (6,2 percent),
coloureds (6,6 percent) and Indians (1,8 percent), behavioural factors and
living conditions are the
determining factor.
Significantly, a higher economic status did not
protect affluent Africans from contracting the disease.
But Africans in overcrowded informal settlements in
urban areas are twice as likely to contract the virus as those living in formal
urban housing.
A surprise of the survey is the 6,2 percent infection
rate for whites, representing about 275 000 people according to current
population projections estimates based on the last census.
The report found that the highest prevalence rates
are not in
The
The study found encouraging signs that young people
are making major changes to their sexual behaviour through much higher use of
condoms, reduction of sexual partners and making greater use of abstinence.
The government is expected to embrace the findings
and recommendations as vindication of its policy since the turnaround of April
17.