GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

AIDS is a disease we know how to prevent. Period. And yet, each day approximately 2,100 people will lose their lives to AIDS and about another 4,600 will become newly diagnosed with HIV.¹

AFRICA EPIDEMIC

Two-thirds of the global HIV positive population lives in Southern Africa. This means that there are currently an estimated 26 million people living with HIV in this region alone.

South Africa epidemic:
Nearly 4,600 South Africans are newly diagnosed every week.³
One-third are adolescent girls/young women (AGYW) aged 15-24.⁴⁵

Among adults aged 15-49 years in South Africa, about 1 in 5 are living with HIV.⁶

South Africa represents less than 1% of the world’s population, but 20% of the global HIV population.⁷⁸⁹¹⁰

YOUTH EPIDEMIC

Of all new HIV diagnoses occurring among adolescents in Southern Africa, 80% are in girls aged 15–19 years.¹¹

Adolescent girls and young women are also twice as likely to be living with HIV than young men of the same age.¹²

Of the 1.6 million adolescents living with HIV worldwide, about 89% live in Southern Africa.¹³

1.  UNAIDS Fact Sheet 2019.
2.  UNAIDS.AIDSinfo
3.  UNAIDS South Africa Country data (2018).
4.  Allinder, Sara M., Center for Strategic & International Studies, The World’s Largest HIV Epidemic in Crisis: HIV in South Africa, April 2, 2019.
5.  UNAIDS South Africa Country data (2018).
6.  www.statssa.gov.za (2019).
7.  www.worldometers.info/world-population (2020).
8. www.statssa.gov.za (2019).
9.  UNAIDS Fact Sheet 2019.
10.  www.statssa.gov.za, P0302 (2019).
11.  Karim, Salim S. Abdool and Cheryl Baxter. “HIV incidence rates in adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa.” The Lancet, Vol 7:11, Nov 1, 2019.
12.  UNAIDS South Africa Country data (2018).
13. Unicef, HIV and AIDS in Adolescents (2018).