Maputo, Mozambique — An estimated 1.4 million Mozambicans are living with the HIV virus that causes the lethal disease AIDS, Deputy Health Minister Aida Libombo told the country's parliament on Tuesday.
Libombo, who was briefing the Assembly on the AIDS epidemic, at the request of the parliamentary group of the ruling Frelimo Party, said that 16 per cent of the adult population is infected with HIV.
A breakdown of estimated infection rates by province shows that central provinces are the worst hit areas. Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambezia provinces all have infection rates of around 20 percent.
In the three northern provinces (Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado) the infection rate is put at 13 percent. In Gaza and Inhambane 18 percent of adults are thought to be carrying HIV, while in Maputo province the figures is 16 percent.
Maputo City is the least affected part of the country, with a 12 percent infection rate.
Until last year, the collection of AIDS statistics was very limited, since there were only four sentinel sites (one in the south, in Maputo, and three in the centre, in Beira, Chimoio and Tete).
These are sites where, when pregnant women attend antenatal consultations, their blood is tested from HIV. There is a mathematical technique for extrapolating from pregnant women to the adult population at large.
As from late 2000, HIV statistics were being collected from 18 other sentinel sites, with all 11 provinces now covered.
Libombo warned that the number of new AIDS cases a year is now about 100,000 and, on current trends is likely to reach well over 150,000 a year by 2010, most of whom can be expected to die of the disease.
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The National Statistics Institute estimates that the AIDS epidemic will cut life expectancy by about 15 years.
The 1997 census found that life expectancy at birth was 42.3 years. Without AIDS, this figure was projected to rise gradually reaching 50.3 years in 2010. But with AIDS, life expectancy at birth is expected to fall over the decade to 35.9 years.
Libombo said that, whether they know it or not, the majority of Mozambicans are now living with the disease, either directly, in that they are themselves infected, or indirectly, in that relatives, friends, colleagues, or neighbours are infected.
The government's response to the epidemic, she said, was the drafting in 1999-2000 of the National Strategic Plan against AIDS, and the establishment of the National Council to Combat AIDS, and its executive secretariat, which will handle implementation of the plan..
Libombo said the government stressed "education, information and communication" about the disease, and the distribution of condoms.
Most AIDS cases go undiagnosed. The total number of AIDS cases reported in 1999 was 6,361 - but the Health Ministry estimates that almost 92,000 Mozambicans came down with the disease that year.
