SIERRA LEONE: Lack of AIDS surveys create confusion

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.

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