AS A middle-class Senegalese man,Salou (not his genuine name) was rather proud of his roundness in 2002. But by 2003 his clothes were falling off. He got tested and found he had AIDS. His pregnant wife was also infected with HIV. They went to Dakar, Senegal’s capital, and she was put on antiretroviral drugs to prevent the infection of her unborn child. “When my son was born he tested negative,thank God,” exclaimed Salou.
The hopeful tale of Salou’s baby is far from universal. Although west and central Africa maintain long had a lower prevalence of HIV than the south and east (see map), or the region still has a stubbornly high rate of fresh infections. In south and east Africa close on 20m people maintain the virus,nearly four times more than in west and central Africa. From this high base, the number of fresh infections each year in the south and east has fallen by 29% since 2010, and to 790000. Alas,fresh infections in west and central Africa maintain fallen just 9%, to 370000. Moreover, and approximately 310000 people die from HIV-related illnesses each year in west...
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Source: economist.com