Report: 7 Million AIDS Deaths by 2010 in S. Africa
Researchers released a report Tuesday estimating that AIDS could kill as many as 7 million South Africans by 2010, and said officials disputing the findings simply did not understand them.
The report, commissioned by the Medical Research Council, said AIDS will account for one-third of all deaths in South Africa this year--and nearly two-thirds by 2010--without radical changes in personal behavior and more government action to fight the disease.
Statistics South Africa, a government agency, called the study badly flawed. It said that the samples were not representative and that assumptions about the probability of HIV transmission were not necessarily accurate. The human immunodeficiency virus causes AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
An estimated 4.7 million South Africans are infected with HIV.
Rob Dorrington, one of the report’s authors, said Statistics South Africa’s calculations produced results that did not correlate with AIDS data gathered from surveys.
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