Aids is now the main killer disease in Africa which is also the continent where malaria is most prevalent, according to UN agencies engaged in combatting disease. “Aids has been with us for just 20 years and it has already killed more people than any other infectious disease,” said Dr. Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAids. Aids was responsible for one death in five in Africa, or about two million people, UNAids and the World Health Organisation said in reports for 1998. Meanwhile, each year, between 300 and 500 million cases of malaria are registered in the world, including one million fatalities. Almost 90% of these malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa where malaria kills directly or indirectly one child in four, the WHO said. There are 23 million carriers in Africa of the HIV virus responsible for Aids.
NO MORE DELAYS FOR EX-SPEAKER
MPUMALANGA’S sacked deputy speaker, Cynthia Maropeng, won another two day reprieve on Wednesday when her attorneys managed to convince the Nelspruit magistrate’s court to postpone her R1,3-million fraud hearing to Friday. Maropeng and her three co-accused were also not asked to plead on 36 fraud charges brought against them after they allegedly used a secret legislature bank account to steal at least R1,3-million. The large legal team defending Maropeng and her alleged co-conspirators have succeeded in getting the case postponed on technicalities on five previous occasions but were finally warned on Wednesday that no more delays would be allowed.