/ 26 February 2001

HALF OF ZIM SUICIDES HIV-RELATED

MORE than 250 people committed suicide in Zimbabwe last year after being diagnosed HIV positive. Police said the 251 HIV suicides accounted for more than half the 451 suicides reported nationally last year. Sociologists say the suicides were most likely a result of the stigma attached to having the disease. HIV/Aids deaths claim some 2 000 lives a week, according to the latest health ministry figures. It is thought that one in every four Zimbabwean adults is HIV positive. -African Eye News Service