AIDS "Leading Killer" in South Africa

South Africa's AIDS epidemic has reached "shattering dimensions" and accounted for one in four deaths last year, according to researchers. In a Medical Research Council report, suppressed by the South African government but leaked to the Johannesburg-based Mail and Guardian newspapers, AIDS is designated as the leading cause of death in the country.

"Without treatment to prevent AIDS, the number of deaths can be expected to grow within the next 10 years to more than double the number of deaths due to other causes," the report says. Unless AIDS is curbed, the report warns, the disease will kill somewhere between five and seven million South Africans by 2010.

The leak of the report comes at a time of growing unhappiness within the ruling party over President Thabo Mbeki's government's stance on AIDS. The health committee has now added its voice to calls for the release of the report in the interest of credibility. Two weeks ago a document was leaked from South Africa's Health Ministry warning that millions of citizens would die of AIDS and recommending more widespread use of antiretroviral drugs, against official policy. The document questioned the morality of President Mbeki's approach.

South Africa is believed to have the highest number of HIV patients in the world -- officially estimated at 4.7 million. President Mbeki has described poverty as the biggest threat and killer in South Africa and has expressed doubts both about the link between HIV and AIDS and the extent to which the disease has spread in South Africa.

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