“HIV/AIDS has become a leading cause of death in the African continent. It not only constitutes a serious constraint to growth and stability of most African economies and societies, but has actually begun to destroy the hard-won development. Even countries with a relatively low national HIV prevalence rate have pockets of crises that are concealed by national statistics- clusters of people or specific locations where the prevalence rate is as high as 20 per cent or more. Over three quarters of total deaths from AIDS occurred in Sub Saharan Africa. More than 10 million children in the region had been orphaned by AIDS by 2005 (UN 2005). While the global prevalence rate is estimated at 1 per cent, the average for sub-Saharan Africa is over 9 per cent thus making the continent the highest incidence of the disease. HIV/AIDS thus constitutes a serious developmental challenge to not only policy makers but also policy implementers in Africa.”
