unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (08/14/89)
UNICEF: AFRICA: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Despite recent measures to control the spread of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Africa, cases of the killer disease continue to increase, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report issued here today. The report counts Africa as having a total of 30,082 cases. Of that number, Uganda heads the list with 6,772 cases, Kenya is second with 5,949 and Tanzania follows with 4,158. "More cases are being reported to the World Health Organization and there is definitely a remarkable increase in the number of people who have AIDS in Africa," says Dr. Benjamin Nkowane, an epidemiologist with the WHO in Geneva. But delegates to the Africa regional conference of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) here point out that these figures do not reflect the extent to which the deadly disease has spread throughout the continent. "The problem we have is that our governments always want to underestimate the figures when reporting them to the WHO," says Dr. William Phiri of Zambia. He added, however, that "these snags are now being overcome and some governments are now being open." Zambia has been especially hard-hit by the disease, and latest figures indicate that cases are increasing in this Southern African nation. Nkowane says reporting of AIDS cases in other African countries (mostly sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is transmitted heterosexually) is incomplete, and, based on serological data, the actual cumulative total AIDS cases in these countries was over 200,000 by Jan. 1, 1989. Dr. Erica Williams, secretary general of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa, says certain measures have been taken in Nigeria, for example, to discourage "prostitutes" from meeting anyone known to have the AIDS virus. "We tell the prostitutes if we know that some men have AIDS not to accept them. This may sound like an unorthodox way of doing things but it is working out," she told the four-day conference here. Williams says her organization has adopted these measures to prevent the disease from spreading, and also because men do not cooperate with the counselling teams to use condoms. According to Williams, Nigeria -- Africa's most populous nation with over 100 million people -- officially has only a small number of AIDS cases. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) -- unitex - via FidoNet node 1:107/520 UUCP: ...!rutgers!rubbs!unitex ARPA: unitex@rubbs.FIDONET.ORG --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange