AIDS may kill 61% of South Africans

Deaths due to HIV & AIDS are seriously being underestimated in South Africa and may be as high as 61%. According to a mathematical model, many HIV & AIDS related deaths are currently being indicated as pneumonia or diarrhoea on death certificates.

This is according to research form the University of Stellenbosch’s health sciences faculty which was published in the journal Aids.

According to Dr Lené Burger, a member of the research team who presented these findings at the faculty’s annual academic day, HIV & AIDS related deaths are often being classified incorrectly on death certificates. This has far reaching implications.

Statistics have estimated the death rate due to HIV & AIDS at 2.4%. With a mathematical model that number was estimated to in fact be 61%, as many HIV & AIDS related deaths are incorrectly being classified as pneumonia or diarrhoea on death certificates.

Burger said that using euphemisms for HIV & AIDS, such as “suppressed immune system” or “retroviral disease”, instead of saying HIV & AIDS also causes problems.

Too much talk has left South Africa limping behind the rest of Africa in the battle against AIDS, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

Motsoaledi said South Africa's slow response to the pandemic was raised at a meeting in New York in June, with UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe.

"He said: 'Look, I've got a message for you. I've met several leaders on Africa and they say that if South Africa doesn't wake up to fight this epidemic, the whole continent will go down.'."

Motsoaledi said he had received a similar message from former Botswana president, Festus Mogae, at a summit of African health ministers in Kigali last week.

"Festus Mogae said: 'We can understand the poor statistics in the rest of the region, but how do we explain South Africa, a highly industrialised country?'."

Motsoaledi said South Africa, which has one of the highest AIDS rates in the world, wasted too much time "debating" the pandemic. "Many African countries are implementing; South Africa is still debating."

But because there was no cure in sight, the key to dealing with the pandemic in the future was to focus on prevention, which was not always that simple.

The latest figures showed 73% of people in South Africa suffering from TB were HIV positive. Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, agreed that changes in behaviour were the only way to deal with AIDS.

“We emphasise prevention as the most effective weapon in the offensive against HIV & AIDS”, Motlanthe said. – (Sapa, September 2009)