AIDS PUTS SWAZILAND ON THE BRINK

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – if you really want to know what’s going on in Swaziland, don’t bother with the Swazi media. Look instead at what’s being reported aborad.

I was reminded of this yet again this week by an article in South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper about the true picture of HIV / AIDS in Swaziland.

The article written by two academics, Professor Alan Whiteside and Scott Naysmith at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, details the devastating effect AIDS is having in Swaziland.

Here are some of the main points of the article.

- A survey undertaken in 2006, estimated that 220 000 people, 19% of the population, are infected with HIV. If this prevalence were applied to South Africa and the United States, then nine million South Africans and 56-million Americans would be infected.

- AIDS kills half of the children dying under the age of five. Swazi citizens born in 1993 could expect to live 60 years; today Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy in the world at just 31.3 years.

- There are already 130 000 orphans and vulnerable children, a number projected to increase to 200 000 by 2010. As elderly care­givers die, the oldest children take over without a support network. Sadly, Swazis have come to see the circumstances afflicting a third of their nation’s children as ordinary and inevitable -- an 'abnormal normality' that reflects a society with few options.

- Many Swazi households are forced to cope with livelihood failure, caused by drought, falling agricultural production and a declining GDP. The number of Swazis 'skipping meals' has increased; poor nutrition hastens the onset of AIDS and puts individuals at greater risk of infection. In 2007 40% of all Swazis require food aid, yet the government recently decided to cultivate cassava crops for bio-fuel production.

- Swazi women and girls shoulder the burden of the disease and are the most vulnerable to infection. A shocking 49% of women aged between 25 and 29 are HIV-positive, reflecting the low status of women.

The research that the Mail and Guardian article is based on can be downloaded here

In Swaziland, meanwhile, the Prime Minister tells us that the way to overcome AIDS is to pray to God.

See also

SWAZILAND IS ON ITS KNEES