According to the latest government antenatal survey presented at the AIDS conference under way in Durban, the country has shown a remarkable decrease in HIV prevalence amongst HIV positive women. The survey shows that the national HIV prevalence among pregnant women stands at 29,1%, compared to 30,2% previous year.
South Africa has the largest number of AIDS cases, followed by India. The country relies largely on pregnant women to determine HIV prevalence. The health ministry attributed the decline in the epidemic to country’s continued focus on prevention as the mainstay to combat HIV.
A total of 33 033 women from over a 1 000 national, provincial and district facilities participated in the survey. Provincial estimates show some have remained the same while prevalence rate has declined in six provinces. However, a decrease in prevalence amongst youth younger than 20 years, from 15.9% - 13.7% is recorded. It also shows a 2% decline amongst 20-24 year-olds. 30 year olds show some increase.
Mpumalanga, NorthWest and Gauteng show statistically significant decrease. Free State was the only province that remained stable, showing a tendency towards an increase.
This is a positive sign towards a decrease in the rising trend of AIDS cases in the country. However, if taken as a whole, Africa has still to go a long way.
Via: Allafrica
