The impact of HIV and AIDS in Swaziland

As elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, the huge number of people dying from AIDS in
Swaziland exacerbates existing poverty, which in turn leaves individuals vulnerable to
the adverse affects of HIV. When those of productive age die from AIDS or are too sick
to work, this means there is less income and therefore less food for families. Lack of
adequate food and nutrition leaves individuals less able to cope with HIV if they are
infected, as effective treatment depends on a good diet.42 Poor and vulnerable women are
more likely to engage in transactional sex, where they have no power to negotiate
condom use.43

A farmer living with HIV in Swaziland

The deaths of many adults have left behind a youthful population in Swaziland. 46% of
the population are under 15, and those over 65 only account for 3%. Many children are
orphaned and left in the care of grandparents if they have them. Otherwise, they may be
left to fend for themselves, as children are in charge of 15,000 households in Swaziland.44
In total the country has 63,000 AIDS orphans.45 Increasing economic decline may push
Swazis into further poverty or economic migration, potentially escalating the scale of the
epidemic.46

The huge scale of AIDS-related illness and deaths is weakening the government’s
capacity to deliver healthcare and other services, with serious consequences for food
security, economic growth and human development. The long-term survival of Swaziland
as a country will be seriously threatened if the spread of HIV is not halted.47
With an estimated adult prevalence of 25.9 percent, based on recent data from the 2006–
2007 Demographic and Health Survey, Swaziland has the world’s most severe
HIV/AIDS epidemic, which poses a serious challenge to the country’s economic
development. Results from this population-based survey represent improved accuracy of
HIV/AIDS estimates and indicate a lower national prevalence rate than the 33.4 percent
previously reported in the 2006 UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. Since
the country’s first AIDS case was reported in 1986, the epidemic has spread relentlessly
in all parts of Swaziland. From 1992 to 2004, prevalence among pregnant women
attending antenatal clinics rose from 3.9 percent to 42.6 percent, according to
Swaziland’s 2005 report to UNGASS. According to UNAIDS, in 2005, women aged 15
to 24 attending antenatal clinics had an HIV prevalence of 39 percent nationally and 43
percent in Manzini. UNAIDS also estimates that approximately 220,000 people in
Swaziland are HIV positive, including 15,000 children under age 15.

http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/7366.pdf

News Summ

HIV/AIDS in Swaz

1,133,066: population
of Swaziland (2007 est
 170,000: Estimated nu
of people living with HI
by the end of 2007

26.1%: Estimated
percentage of adults (a
15-49) living with HIV/
by the end of 2007

59%: Estimated perce

of HIV cases that occur
among women (ages 1
by the end of 2007

15,000: Estimated num

children (ages 0-15) liv
with HIV/AIDS by the e
2007

10,000: Estimated num

deaths due to AIDS du
2007

Source

Sub-Saharan Africa is more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of
the world. An estimated 22 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2007 and
approximately 1.9 million additional people were infected with HIV during that year. In
just the past year, the AIDS epidemic in Africa has claimed the lives of an estimated 1.5
million people in this region. More than eleven million children have been orphaned by
AIDS.1

The extent of the AIDS crisis is only now becoming clear in many African countries, as
increasing numbers of people with HIV are becoming ill. In the absence of massively
expanded prevention, treatment and care efforts, it is expected that the AIDS death toll in
sub-Saharan Africa will continue to rise. This means that impact of the AIDS epidemic
on these societies will be felt most strongly in the course of the next ten years and
beyond. Its social and economic consequences are already widely felt, not only in the
health sector but also in education, industry, agriculture, transport, human resources and
the economy in general.