AIDS Appears Stable In S. Africa

The AIDS infection rate among young South Africans appears to have dipped slightly and overall infection rates appear to be stabilizing, according to figures released by the health ministry Monday.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said a report showed that the infection rate for pregnant mothers under the age of 20 had decreased from 18 to 15.4 percent between 1998 and 2000.

Stigma against the disease runs high in South Africa, however, and many people refuse to take HIV tests, making an accurate count difficult.

Infection rates among pregnant women are used as a gauge because they are tested for HIV when they come to the hospital to give birth.

Some 4.7 million South Africans, one in nine, are HIV positive, more people than any other country in the world.

Tshabalala-Msimang, who released a national study on HIV, said that the figure of 4.7 million people has remained basically stable since 2000.

The health minister credited the government's AIDS-prevention program for bringing down the number of new AIDS cases, but critics say that until recently the government's policies hampered efforts to combat the disease's spread.

In April, the government announced a more aggressive approach toward tackling the pandemic.

But Monday's news was not all encouraging. The prevalence of HIV among women over 30 appeared to rise slightly.

Of women between the ages of 30 and 34, the infection rate stood at 25.6 percent last year compared with 23.3 percent in 2000. The increase was more dramatic in women between the ages of 35 and 39, of whom 19.3 percent were infected in 2001, up from 15.8 percent in 2000, the study said.