South Africa
With the highest number of
infections in the world, South Africa is one of the countries most
severely affected by the AIDS epidemic. The country’s first HIV
infection was reported in 1982. According to the most recent estimate by
the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, South Africa’s total
number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) now stands at 5.6 million,
and the epidemic is now stable. While the number of PLWHA has
stabilized in recent years, South Africa continues to face a generalized
hyper epidemic due to high HIV prevalence. There are numerous modes of
transmission and drivers of the disease. South Africa’s HIV epidemic is
generalized and also considered hyper endemic due to the high rate of
HIV prevalence and the modes and drivers of HIV transmission. Also, the
country is one of the few where maternal and child mortality has
increased since the 1990s, and AIDS is the largest cause of maternal
mortality. It accounts for an estimated 42.5 percent of maternal deaths,
according to the World Health Organization, and for 35 percent of
deaths in children under 5. While South Africa is home to only 0.7
percent of the world’s population, it accounts for 28 percent of the
world’s HIV and tuberculosis co-infections and 33 percent of the
co-infection in sub-Saharan Africa.
In December 2010, the Government
of South Africa signed a Partnership Framework with the U.S. Government
(USG). The Partnership Framework is designed as a five-year joint
strategic framework for cooperation among the USG, the partner
government, and other partners to combat HIV/AIDS through service
delivery, policy reform, and coordinated financial commitments.
Partnership Frameworks also support and strengthen national HIV/AIDS
strategies; focus on building strategic partnerships with the host
country to secure long-term sustainability for HIV/AIDS programs; and
are transparent and accountable in execution, with the active
participation of other key partners from civil society, the private
sector, bilateral and multilateral partners, and other international
organizations.
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