AIDS becomes South Africa's top killer

A new report released by South Africa's Medical Research Council shows that AIDS has become the country's number 1 killer, causing one of every three deaths in the nation, Agence France-Presse reports. The 190-page report shows that as of the year 2000, AIDS is the top killer in all of the nation's provinces except the Western Cape. In Eastern KwaZulu-Natal Province, AIDS accounted for 41.4% of all deaths in 2000; in Mpumalanga Province, AIDS accounted for 40.7%. In the nation's most populous province, Guateng, AIDS caused 33% of the deaths reported there in 2000.