Until southern Africa can get a handle on its AIDS epidemic, development is out of the question, a senior regional official said Thursday in advance of a summit in Tanzania.

Though external debt and political crises in Zimbabwe and Swaziland are on the agenda of next week's meeting of regional leaders, AIDS is the number-one worry for the 14-member Southern African Development Community, executive secretary and CEO Prega Ramsamy said. "Our population is being destroyed. We can forget about development [unless AIDS is dealt with urgently]," said Ramsamy.

South Africa has the world's highest AIDS caseload, with 4.7 million people infected with HIV. HIV/AIDS affects around 40 percent of adults in Swaziland and 35 percent in Botswana.

The August 25-26 summit is also expected to approve an action plan for long-term food sufficiency in southern Africa, which has been hit by three years of drought.

SADC member countries include South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Malawi.

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