Michael Gurstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> quoted: >-----Original Message----- >From: AF-AIDS - AF-AIDS [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Subject: [467] ILO-UNAIDS Conference on HIV/AIDS in Namibia and I read... >Two reports on the ILO & UNAIDS 3-day conference in Windhoek, Namibia, on >the social and labour implications of HIV/AIDS >------------------------- >1. From AfricaOnline News: [...] >Some 80 percent of people aged 20 to 49 in some African countries-or the >majority of economically active adults-are living with HIV/AIDS, strongly >indicating that the pandemic is "affecting and ultimately killing the most >productive members of the labour force" in many African countries with >increasing rapidity, the International Labour Office (ILO) said today. An extraordinary claim. What countries are these, I wonder? Later on... > In Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and >Zimbabwe, between 20 and 25 percent of all persons aged 15 to 49 are now >infected with HIV or have AIDS, although in some areas infection rates are >as high as 50 percent. >An ILO study carried out on the labour force in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and >Zambia showed that 80 percent of persons infected in those countries are >between the ages of 20 and 49. And later... >------------------------ >2. From UN wire, 12 Oct: >>. An ILO study on >the labor forces in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia showed that 80% of >the people infected in these countries were between the ages of 20 and 49. >In Namibia, Zambia and Swaziland, one adult in five is HIV-positive; in >Zimbabwe and Botswana, the number is one in four. (Rama, Agence >France-Presse). So it appears that what has happened is the journalist for AfricaOnline, in a spectacular feat of illiteracy, has transformed "80% are between 20 and 49" into "80% between 20 and 49 are", creating an outrageous piece of misinformation. Yipes. ...One wonders how this person could have continued writing the article without stopping to think what such figures would imply, and triple checking they'd read it right. Sigh... (Not to minimize the extent of the problem, but 25% and 80% are two completely different levels of disaster.) -Pete Vincent
