CAMEROON: More advanced research records lower AIDS rate

A new survey released by Cameroon's health ministry indicates a drop in the number of adults living with HIV/AIDS.

According to preliminary results from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS-III) of 11,400 people, conducted between October 2003 and August 2004, the national HIV prevalence rate is now 5.5 percent, much lower than an earlier estimate of 11.8 percent.

Cameroon's National AIDS Control Committee and the UN Children's Fund were among the experts involved in the research and the DHS-III survey is said to be "more scientific and more broadly based".

Although the new figure is less than half the 11.8 percent extrapolated from last year's Sentinel survey of pregnant women at ante-natal clinics, it is close to the UNAIDS figure of 6.9 percent, which used calculations based on information from several sources.

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