HIV and AIDS -making themselves felt

HIV can spread silently for many years before the infection develops into symptomatic AIDS and becomes a cause of recurring illness and, finally, death. During 1998 Africa held 5 500 funerals a day for people dying of AIDS, but the death rate is set to increase. Countries where the epidemic is rather recent, such as South Africa, are still far from feeling the major impact of AIDS, despite already high levels of HIV in the general population. But South Africans can anticipate the likely impact by looking at countries where the epidemic has been longer established-Uganda in East Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Millions of adults are dying young or in early middle age. They leave behind children grieving and struggling to survive without a parent’s care. Many of those dying have surviving partners who are themselves infected and in need of care. Their families have to find money to pay for their funerals, and their employers-schools, factories, hospitals-have to train other staff to replace them at the workplace.