Health Systems Trust Better Health for all in Southern Africa

Home     News     Publications    Health Statistics    Programmes     Search


News
HST Collects relevant news from a variety of sources, for your convenience. Select a story from below, or use our search feature to find stories of interest.

HealthLink Bulletin

E-discussion Groups

Job Adverts

Search

 

 

 

The Voice of the People
Markinor
2004-12-02

According to the citizens of Africa, Latin America and West Asia, HIV/Aids is the most important disease in these regions but it is seen as the second most important disease overall by citizens of the world. This was the most important finding in a survey released worldwide today by Gallup International, and their South African associate, Markinor.

More than 50 000 people in over 60 countries across the world were interviewed between June and August 2004 for the annual 'Voice of the People' survey. They were asked their views of the most important disease in their country. Overall, 4 out of every 10 (42 %) citizens in the countries polled around the world mentioned cancer as the most threatening disease - a concern shared in most countries, but not unanimously.

GLOBAL RESULTS: MOST IMPORTANT DISEASE IN COUNTRY

DISEASE %
Cancer 42
HIV/AIDS 27
Heart attack/stroke 15
Tuberculosis 3
Malaria 2
SARS 1
Other 8
Don't know/not answered 4


Of the countries included in the survey, citizens of nineteen of them believe that HIV/Aids is the most important disease with nine out of ten South Africans confirming this. In fact, all five African countries1 included in the survey are amongst the first eleven that regard HIV/Aids as the most important disease.

COUNTRIES THAT REGARD HIV/AIDS AS THE MOST IMPORTANT DISEASE



With the five African countries, two thirds believe that HIV/Aids is the most important disease. It is notable that the most important disease overall for global citizens (cancer) is mentioned by only 1 % in this region. Africa was also the region where most people mentioned the Millennium Goal of combating HIV/Aids as the most important for the world as a whole. In Africa, women and young people are generally even more concerned than other groups.

Malaria is the second most frequently mentioned disease in Africa and is of particular concern for Nigerians (35 %) and the people of Cameroon (31 %).

1For the purposes of this project, Egypt, although geographically part of Africa, is included in the 'Middle East' together with Turkey and Israel.

Focus on South Africa

The facts regarding HIV/Aids in South Africa paint a rather bleak picture, namely at the end of 2004 about 6 million South Africans are HIV-positive, about 80% of people who are HIV positive do not know their HIV status, about 500 000 are living with full-blown AIDS, and about 380000 people died this year due to AIDS-related diseases. The picture for the future looks even bleaker, namely it is being expected that during 2010 there will be about 900000 people with full-blown AIDS and about 600000 AIDS-related deaths during 2010. The cumulative impact of HIV/AIDS will be very serious, namely it is being expected that by 2011 there would have been more than 5 million AIDS-related deaths, and by 2021 there would have been more than 9 million AIDS-related deaths.

In light of the mounting demographic impact of HIV/Aids effective government intervention to address this disease is of paramount importance. The issue of the South African Government's handling of HIV/Aids is usually met with mixed responses - from criticism from some groups of activists to proponents of 'alternative ways' of handling the disease in this country. Therefore the perception of the Government's handling of HIV/Aids is included as one of the policy areas in which the views of the general public are tested every six months as part of Markinor's Government Performance Barometer. Currently, almost two thirds of adult South Africans are of the opinion that our Government is addressing the issue of HIV/Aids 'very well' or 'fairly well', despite our enormously high infection rates.

Contributing to the increased proportion of adult South Africans who approved of the Government's handling of this issue, could be Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's announcement as part of the budget speech that Government plans to spend R12.3 billion on the pandemic over the next three years, together with the public announcement of the provision of free AIDS drugs by the Gauteng Provincial Government, the first ANC-led province to do so.

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM OF HIV/AIDS: GOVERNMENT IS HANDLING THE ISSUE VERY WELL OR FAIRLY WELL



South Africans are broadly aware of the link between HIV/Aids and risky sexual behaviour and are generally knowledgeable about methods of protection. Yet only 30% of the sexually active male population claim to use condoms every time they have sexual relations, with an additional 16 per cent saying they use them most times. Nearly half (46%) assert they use them only sometimes or never. An institutional problem in this regard is that people who want access to condoms, do not have it because of the unavailability or intermittent availability of condoms at primary health facilities. It should also be said in this regard that the broad-based access of people to primary, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) facilities and AIDS drugs in the light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still limited. Taking into account the large number of people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, this could have potentially disastrous health, demographic and economic consequences.

HIV/AIDS will impact on many aspects of the economic lives of South Africans, South African firms and the national economy. Reduced growth could fuel a vicious circle:
   
 
 Contact details       Terms of use       Funder info