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AFRICA: UN foresees destructive effects of AIDS

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

JOHANNESBURG, 17 September (PLUSNEWS) - The UN has predicted that HIV/AIDS will have destructive effects on virtually every sector of society.

In a new report called, 'The Impact of AIDS', the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) says healthcare systems, food security and economic development could be devastated by the pandemic.

Without an effective vaccine and better programmes to prevent its spread, HIV/AIDS - which has already killed over 20 million people since 1980 - will also cause up to 100 million deaths in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025.

"The eventual course of the disease depends on how individuals, communities, nations and the world respond to the HIV/AIDS threat today and tomorrow," the report concluded.

[ENDS]

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