Rome (Fides Service) - The reported number of Africans who have contracted AIDS this year 2004 is 3.1 million and the number of those who died of AIDS in Africa is 2.3 million. In Sierra Leone the minister of Health has arranged the purchase of anti-retroviral drugs to treat about 45,000 persons suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Experts are discussing how to distribute the drugs to the HIV+ persons in Sierra Leone where 10 years of civil war left healthcare structures in precarious conditions.
The pandemic represents a serious threat for national survival of this small nation of 4.5 million citizens
Africa has about two thirds (25.4 million) of the world’s HIV+ persons and AIDS patients and 76% of the world’s infected women are African. (AP) (28/11/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:17; Parole:135)