Fewer than half of South Africa‘s 15-year-olds will live to see their 60th birthday because of HIV/AIDS

Clare Nullis:

The report, issued every two years and widely used as a model for predicting the course of the disease and its impact, included an estimate that 5.4 million of South Africa‘s 48 million people were infected with the AIDS virus by the middle of 2006 — a figure in line with the government‘s own estimates issued earlier this year.

The report said life expectancy dropped from 63 in 1990 to 51 in 2006. In the hardest hit province of KwaZulu-Natal, it was as low as 43.

"The youth of today are facing a bleak future, and much still needs to be done to protect and support this vulnerable group," said Leigh Johnson, one of the authors of the report.

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