A WEEKEND health report on Southern Africa estimates that more than 36 million people in the region are HIV-positive. The report was released on Saturday and says one in five people in the region could be affected, including 25% of women going to antenatal clinics in the Southeren African Development Community. “By virtue of its magnitude, the HIV epidemic constitutes a threat to the human race,” the report says. Citing 1998 tuberculosis research, the report estimates that 264 people per 100000 suffer from the disease. It also calls for better control of malaria, cholera, and dysentery, and calls for the eradication of polio and measles. South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland are working together to combat HIV/Aids, sharing R600 million from US donors over five years.