AIDS is South Africa's number one killer

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2005

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — AIDS is South Africa's number one killer with nearly one in three people dying from the disease.

"This study shows ... that HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death in all provinces except in the Western Cape," said the 190-page report compiled by South Africa's Medical Research Council.

"One of the key findings of the report is that AIDS is the major cause of death in the country," added Debbie Bradshaw, director of the MRC's Burden of Disease Research Unit.

The report based its findings on statistics drawn from the year 2000, which said that 30 percent of South Africans died of AIDS, while 33 percent of all deaths in its most populous province, Gauteng, were caused by the disease.

"Clearly HIV/AIDS is a major problem in South...