THE HIV-AIDS infection rate among pregnant women in Namibia has gone down from 19,9 per cent in 2006 to 17,7 per cent last year, according to a newly released report.
‘Just as importantly, prevalence rates have fallen sharply in the age range 15 to 19, where they are now down to 5 per cent, and rates in the age range 20 to 24 have fallen from a high of 22 per cent to 14 per cent,’ Health Deputy Minister Petrina Haingura said.This, she said, is according to the 2008 Sero-sentinel Survey. However, Haingura told a conference of the Namibia Network of HIV-AIDS Service Organisation (Nanaso) in Windhoek on Monday that there are other disturbing trends. She said the very high HIV prevalence rate in the Caprivi Region – once reported as 40 per cent – is starting to fall at last. In the Karas, Erongo, Khomas, Otjozondjupa and Kavango regions, the infection rate has been put at around 15 per cent. But there is concern about the Kunene Region, where the infection rate has increased from below 10 per cent to around 15 per cent, and the north-central regions where almost one in five women is now infected.’So, there can be no room for complacency … because as I speak there are over 200 000 people living with AIDS in Namibia,’ she said.
