No sign of
slowdown in South Africa's AIDS epidemic

South Africa, home to the world's highest number of HIV-positive people, is continuing to face steady or even rising HIV infection rates while most other African nations are seeing declines, Business Day reports. A report released last week by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS shows that South Africa is now home to 6 million HIV-positive people and that in 2004 HIV prevalence among pregnant South African women reached an all-time high of 29.5%. U.N. officials report that HIV prevalence in the general population soared from just 1% in 1999 to more than 25% a decade later, and the rate is still increasing. Only about 135,000 HIV-positive South Africans are receiving antiretroviral therapy, according to the UNAIDS report. (Advocate.com)