Women and AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa: The case of Zimbabwe and its Policy Implications

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, HIV/AIDS is having devastating effects on Africa. According to the June 2000 report of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), about 71% of the estimated 34.3 million people with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty- nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa have an HIV prevalence of 2 percent or more. Southern Africa holds the majority of the world’s hard-hit countries. In Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, current estimates show that between 20% and 26% of people aged 15-49 are living with HIV or AIDS. In countries hard hit by the pandemic, morbidity and mortality have risen and are expected to continue to rise. The major route of AIDS in Sub- Saharan Africa is heterosexual intercourse, estimated to account for 93 percent of all adult cases, followed by blood transfusions, and vertical transmission of the AIDS virus from mother to fetus.