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IRIN PlusNews HIV/AIDS News and information service | West Africa | SIERRA LEONE: Lack of AIDS surveys create confusion | | Daily


	Tuesday 21 February 2006

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SIERRA LEONE: Lack of AIDS surveys create confusion

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 18 August (PLUSNEWS) - The lack of nation-wide surveys to ascertain the extent of HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone has created confusion over numbers, experts have said.

As a result of poverty and poor medical facilities, the only available estimates were derived from diagnoses of patients who voluntarily took HIV tests, or were identified when they developed advanced AIDS-related illnesses.

The government's main AIDS prevention unit, the Sierra Leone HIV/AIDS Response Project (SHARP), said recent statistics indicated that about 0.9 percent, or 45,000 people, were HIV-positive, according to PANOS, a global development NGO.

However, UNAIDS put the figure much higher, estimating that 170,000 people were already living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2001.

[ENDS]

:: MORE NEWS BRIEFS ::

Recent SIERRA LEONE Reports

First post-war countrywide survey shows 1.5 percent HIV prevalence, 20/Dec/05

New survey expected to show much higher HIV prevalence rate, 17/Feb/05

300 people to receive free antiretroviral drugs, 20/Jan/05

Efforts to break down HIV/AIDS stigma starting to pay off, 9/Dec/04

UN peacekeepers equipped to prevent HIV/AIDS, 13/Mar/03

Links

AIDS Media Center

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria

International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS

AEGIS

International HIV/AIDS Alliance

PlusNews does not take responsibility for info in links supplied.

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