The Progress of Nations 2000

LEAGUE TABLE: ESTIMATED PROPORTIONS ('%) OF 15- TO

IDS is decimating the developing
world - nowhere more savagely than in
sub-Saharan Africa - and great numbers
of young people are now falling under the fury
of its unrelenting attack. This league table
documents the toll of the epidemic.
A bitter legacy
In Botswana, 1 in 3 young women and l in 7 young men aged
15 to 24 are infected with HIV, as are 1 in 4 young women and
1 in 10 young men in Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In
nine other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 1 in 10
young women and 1 in 20 young men are infected.
The signs are evident in too many countries. In Cambodia,
for example, 1 in 33 young women and 1 in 50 young men are
infected, and in Haiti, 1 in 33 young women and 1 in 20 young
men are HIV positive.
How did these rates come to be so disastrously high, now, more
than 15 years into the withering curse of the AIDS epidemic?
How, with the enormous losses already endured - the millions of dead and dying, the children orphaned, the human,
economic and social blight this epidemic has caused - have we
come no further than to this bitter place?
How is it that, after 15 years of such painful acquaintance
with AIDS, we have bequeathed such a deadly legacy to
10.3 million of our young?
The HIV-infection rates among young people are a searing
indictment, documenting failures of vision, commitment and
action of almost unimaginable proportions. They tell the story
of leadership unworthy of the name and the virtual abandonment of sub-Saharan Africa, at a time of dire need, to a disaster
that may soon engulf other regions as well. And they speak of
devastation waiting to emerge elsewhere, under a similar cover
of silence, apathy and neglect.
Although AIDS cannot be cured, it can be prevented. Current
infection rates should never have reached such catastrophic
levels. Now that they have, leaders at all levels and in all countries, both industrialized and developing, must immediately
commit the resources, time and energy to prevent further such
tragedies. A strong international response to this grave emergency is long overdue and young people now at the epicentre of
the epidemic need to be involved.
The world has averted its gaze for too long, in the process
aiding and abetting in this most unpardonable of crimes - the
preventable deaths of millions of young people.

SUB-SAHAIIAN AIFRICA

MIII))II E AST ANI)
NORTi AIIFRICA*

F
Botswana
Lesotho
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Namibia
Zambia
Malawi
Mozambique
C. African Rep.
Kenya
Ethiopia
Burundi
Rwanda
C6te d'lvoire
Tanzania
Cameroon
Uganda
Congo
Burkina Faso
Togo
Congo, Dem. Rep.
Nigeria
Gabon
Ghana
Chad
Sierra Leone
Angola
Guinea-Bissau
Benin
Gambia
Liberia
Mali
Senegal
Niger
Guinea
Mauritania
Madagascar
Mauritius
Eritrea
Somalia

emale
34
26
25
25
20
18
15
15
14
13
12
12
11
9.5
8.1
7.8
7.8
6.5
5.8
5.5
5.1
5.1
4.7
3.4
3.0
2.9
2.7
2.5
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.1
1.6
1.5
1.4
0.6
0.1
0.04
ND

Male
16
12
11
11
9.1
8.2
7.0
6.7
6.9
6.4
7.5
5.7
5.2
3.8
4.0
3.8
3.8
3.2
2.3
2.2
2.5
2.5
2.3
1.4.......................
1.9
1.2
1.3
1.0
0.9
0.9
0.9
1.3
0.7
1.0
0.6
0.4
0.04
0.04
ND

Algeria
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Morocco
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
Turkey

Female
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01

Male
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01

U. Arab Emirates <0.01
Yemen <0.01

* 1997 estimates.
Adolescence: Window
of opportunity
Studies in countries with
generalized AIDS epidemics show
that women become infected at
younger ages than men, usually by
older men. Men's infections tend to
occur at later ages. To change
behaviour and prevent infections,
therefore, intervention programmes
should focus mostly on adolescents.
Female
18 Male
16
14
12
10
a
u8 -6
4
2
0 -13-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45+
Age groups (years)
Source: Masaka District Arnnual Survey

ND ND (Uganda), 1997.

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