1 8 S O U T H E R N A F R I C A N D E V E L O P M E N T C O M M U N I T Y The relatively poor health indicators for SADC are significantly to around 40 - 50 years, child and adult largely a reflection of the continued burden of diseases in mortality rising and the number of orphans continuing to the region, particularly communicable diseases such as increase at an unprecedented rate. Apart from a the HIV and AIDS pandemic, tuberculosis, malaria, polio, significant decline in the labour force, there will be a hepatitis B, cholera and dysentery. The HIV and AIDS younger, ill-qualified and inexperienced pool of human pandemic, by virtue of its magnitude, is the single resources in the labour market. greatest developmental and public health concern. These This is due to the fact that most HIV and AIDS victims diseases are aggravated by high levels of malnutrition, are educated, skilled and enterprising and require long particularly among women and children. periods of training and skill acquisition. Since this ii) HIV and AIDS Pandemic category The SADC region faces a severe HIV and AIDS epidemic. professional and managerial backbone of the economies The current extent of the pandemic has affected virtually of Member States, there is an imminent threat that the every aspect of the lives of the people in the SADC region epidemic will undermine the socio-economic development and has now reached crisis proportions. Since the mid- efforts in Member States and the integration process in the 80s when HIV and AIDS were identified in most countries region in general. from HIV and AIDS, with corresponding adverse impact on population provides the technical, The negative impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic is of the region, there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of adult and children infected with, and dying of also being manifested in the following ways: • It is decreasing the productive capacity of all the the socio-economic development of the region. The HIV sectors due to the loss of key personnel. This in turn and AIDS pandemic, by virtue of its magnitude, is the is reducing the levels of tax revenues and thereby single greatest developmental and public health concern. lowering the capacity of the public sector to UNAIDS has estimated that over one million people died effectively provide social services such as health, social welfare and education. of AIDS in the SADC region in 2001. Cumulatively, this brings the total number of deaths since the start of the • also leads to a decline in savings and investment epidemic to over 20 million. rates and eventually the GDP growth rate. The levels of infection in the individual countries have placed SADC on the top list of the most affected region in The decline in the productive capacity of the economy • It is reducing the productive capacity of agriculture, the world. Even though the 14 countries are at different especially the subsistence agriculture sub-sector due levels of the maturity of the epidemic, all indicators point to the loss of the economically active population. towards a severe state of the epidemic. Estimates of the • The education sector is also affected due to lower severity of the epidemic using adult prevalence rates rates of educational attainment and falling enrolment show that about 20 percent of the entire adult population of children affected by HIV and AIDS, together with aged 15 - 49 is currently infected in nine Southern African losses of education personnel. countries. These are Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, • Health care systems are overwhelmed with HIV and Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, AIDS patients with the result that health workers are and Zimbabwe. Some worst countries have adult prevalence overburdened, health care costs are escalating and rates of over 40 percent. Several factors have been noted to acute conditions are being "crowded out". be contributing to the spread of the epidemic. These include Conditions such as tuberculosis (TB), which were poverty, gender inequality, intergenerational sex, illiteracy, almost being brought under control in the 1970s, stigma and discrimination, alcohol abuse and lack of have re-emerged as a result of the HIV and AIDS communication about HIV and AIDS due to cultural barriers. epidemic, further straining the overstretched health care systems. The devastating impact of the pandemic continues to be felt at all levels of society within the region. The overall • The epidemic has also led to an increase in the effect also continues to be reflected in the demographic number of orphans, street children and child-headed structure of the population, with life expectancy dropping households.