BRIAN LIGOMEKA, Blantyre | Saturday
MALAWIS most important social services, including the country’s army, face collapse within the next four years when an estimated 25% of government officials begin dying of HIV/Aids, says a new international study.
The study, by the London-based PANOS Institute, indicates that between 25 and 50% of officials employed in Malawi’s army, as well as the country’s vital education and health departments, are already HIV positive and will die within four years.
Authors Martin Foreman and Thomas Scalway claim that Malawi’s public health care system is already swamped by the pandemic, with up to 70% of hospital beds occupied by HIV positive patients.
The growing impact of HIV related deaths has also driven up government’s health spending in the army and civil service by an estimated 50%, diminishing the amount of money available for normal public services and infrastructure development.
“With over 70% of hospital beds in the country occupied by people with HIV, it costs up to R5 000 to take care of just one person with AIDS. That is equivalent to the average income for a Malawian for four years. A growing budget deficit in the public health service is forcing individuals and families to care for HIV positive relatives at home,” the report reads.
Both government and the private sector is already experiencing problems training replacements for HIV positive staff, with no predictions yet on the affect of an expected ‘brain drain’ will have on the economy as significant numbers of Malawi’s most economically active citizens die.
PANOS does predict, however, that Malawi’s gross domestic product will drop by at least 10% by 2010 as a direct result of HIV deaths.
Slightly over 760_000 Malawians between the ages of 15 and 49 were living with HIV/Aids by the end of 1999, while an estimated 40_000 children also had the virus.
Over 390_000 children have lost at least one parent to HIV/Aids since the pandemic was first diagnosed in Malawi in the mid 1980s and an additional 70 000 are orphaned each year. – African Eye News Service
ZA*NOW:
SADC leaders to ask for anti-Aids package October 11, 2000