South Africa was experiencing a possible decline of new HIV infections, Health Director General Thami Mseleku said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the same day as the release of a United Nations report stating that South Africa had the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, Mseleku said there were signs that there was a turnaround in the number of new HIV infections.
He cited the national HIV and syphilis prevalence survey, which showed a decrease in the prevalence of HIV amongst pregnant woman, and also a decline from 15,9% in 2005 to 13,7% in 2006 of the prevalence of the virus amongst those 20 years old and younger.
While there was progress amongst younger people, the HIV prevalence in the older age groups remained at levels similar to 2005 and in some instances there were increases.
Mseleku said South Africa’s position on top of the UN list with countries with the highest HIV prevalence was known.
”The focus on us being the highest is fine, but we should also focus on countries where they felt they have dealt with this problem and they are actually facing rising incidents,” he said.
”With the evidence we have, we are seeing possible signs of a turnaround of infections; young people seem to be responding,” he said.
Mseleku said, however, that the country would continue with its focus on prevention.
More than three-quarters of Aids-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the UN Joint Programme on HIV/Aids annual report on the pandemic said.
Southern Africa was the worst affected in the region with national adult HIV prevalence over 15% in eight countries.
”While there is evidence of a significant decline in the national HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe, the [pandemics] in most of the rest of the sub-region have either reached or are approaching a plateau.”
The UN data showed that adult HIV prevalence was either stable or has started to decline in many parts of Africa.
Worldwide, new Aids infections were levelling off, and of the 2,5-million people newly infected overall, more than half came from sub-Saharan Africa. — Sapa