Hussein_links

The AIDS problem in Africa has become a crisis; the infection rate, the death toll will decimate the continent. Of the almost 35 million people who have AIDS, 24.5 are in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 19 million have died from AIDS--and 85% of those were in Africa south of the Sahara. Children under 15 die, and in 1999, some 12 million children became orphans due to the death of both parents from AIDS.

One of the most terrible problems is that the highest death rates--some 80%--come among the 20-50 year olds, the workers. The problem is serious in urban areas, where thousands of young men come every year. Since HIV is spread by HIV-1E and other hetero-sexual strains, when the men return to the village, they infect their wives and girlfriends. It's the women who grow the crops and provide the food, as well as care of the young, and the women are dying. Women who breast-feed their babies die earlier than those who use formula, but formula is just not available at all in most rural areas. Vitally important economic and social sectors of society are being devastated.

	Cause of Death, in thousands		Africa			Africa
				Mortality Stratum: High child, high adult			Mortality Stratum: High child, very high adult
Total Deaths (000's)		4,381			6,055
Communicable Diseases subtotal		2,931			4,429
Tuberculosis		128			229
STDs but no AIDS		38			36
HIV/AIDS		458			1,696
Diarrhoeal Diseases		371			394
Childhood Diseases (esp measles)		373			367
Malaria		481			472
Respiratory Infections		492			594
Maternal conditions		102			153
Perinatal conditions		319			296
Nutritional Deficiencies		85			95
Non-communicable conditions		1,074			1,226
Malignant neoplasms		238			289
Diabetes mellitus		18			20
Cardiovascular		447			488
Respiratory		104			122
Digestive		96			114
Genitourinary system		57			63
Injuries		376			400
Unintentional (road traffic, drowning, etc)		224			232
Intentional (War, Homicide, Suicide)		152			168