Zimbabwe has registered a 2,5% decline in the prevalence of HIV to 15,6% of the population, the authorities revealed in Harare on Wednesday.
The latest decline is from 18,1% of the population in 2006 to 15,6% this year, or one in every seven people, Health Ministry officials were quoted as saying.
Zimbabwe’s population stands at around 11,6-million.
The new statistics show that at least 1 320 000 people, of whom 133 000 are children, are currently living with HIV/Aids in the country, the radio quoted Health Minister David Parirenyatwa as saying.
He attributed the decline in HIV rates to successful HIV/Aids awareness programmes. The authorities should redouble their efforts to push the prevalence rate down further to a single digit figure by next year, the minister said.
The latest data was gleaned from sources including the Central Statistical Office, the Zimbabwe Health Demographic Survey and the national survey of HIV and syphilis among pregnant women, according to the ZBC report.
Last year the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that Zimbabwe had the lowest life expectancy in the world for women — 34.
Zimbabwean men can only expect to live to age 37. The low life expectancy was attributed mainly to HIV/Aids.
Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, marked by inflation of close to 8 000% and chronic hard currency shortages, means that many people in the country who are infected with HIV do not have access to good nutrition or life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs. ‒ Sapa-DPA