<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080504084109386C950315>:

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Shocking new Aids statistics reveal that 2 million more South Africans
are infected with HIV than the most recent government estimates show.

According to statistics released by the Development Bank of South
Africa (DBSA), more than 7,6 million South Africans are HIV-positive -
2,2 million more than the department of health's figures for 2007
state.

Of these, about 6,1 million are the economically active people between
the ages of 20 and 64, who could contribute to the country's economy.

What makes these statistics more alarming is the fact that the data on
which they are based are probably more reliable than the department of
health's because they were collected at grassroots level and not based
on estimates.

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Despite the claim made to the contrary in this article, I'd be
extremely surprised if these new figures from South Africa were not
based on estimates.  And it seems odd, to me, that a banking
organisation is capable of generating more accurate HIVAIDS figures
than the Department of Health.

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Although the birthrate is declining nationally, and in particular in
Gauteng, there is an increase in the total number of HIV-infected
babies being born.

Prevalence rates at antenatal clinics have increased to 31,67 percent
- up 2 percent from last year.

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I would have expected these statisticians to have learned a lesson
from the huge errors and bad assumptions made about Indian's antenatal
figures.

South Africa is considered 'ground zero' of the HIVAIDS epidemic.
However here
(<http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/population.htm>) we learn
that, despite hundreds of thousands of South Africans dying from
HIVAIDS each year and a declining birth rate, between 2001 and 2007
the population of the country increased by over three million people.