LONDON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- In some parts of Uganda, infection with the
AIDS virus may have slashed the population's average life expectancy by
nearly 16 years.
A study released today in the British Medical Journal highlights the
impact that AIDS virus HIV-1 has had on life expectancy and mortality in
a rural African population.
The five-year study, conducted by Britain's Medical Research Council,
estimates that life expectancy in a rural community in southwest Uganda
has fallen from 58.3 years to 42.5 years as a consequence of the AIDS
epidemic.
Andrew Nunn, senior statistician and co-author of the report, tells
UPI, ``Life expectancy had been improving in Africa before HIV. Now HIV
has really knocked it back.''
He says, ``This area in Uganda won't be unique in Africa. This has
implications for what is happening in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
''
In study area in Uganda, 8 percent of the adult population is
infected with HIV-1. The virus has nearly doubled the death rate in
adults, with some 41 percent of adult deaths each year attributed to the
disease. For 25- to 44-year-olds, that number rises to 70 percent.
Since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, an estimated 16 million
people have caught the virus in Africa, mostly in sub-Saharan countries.
But data on the impact on death rates and life expectancy has been
scarce.