New study reduces Tanzanian HIV prevalence to 7 Pct

Tanzania revised its HIV infection rate downwards to 7 percent Friday, from a previous estimate of 12 to 15 percent, but said the number of people infected by the deadly virus was still too high.

The revision was made to reflect the findings of a new poll, the first study to carry out HIV testing on a representative sample of the population.

"Tanzania continues to battle high HIV infection rates. According to the new Tanzania HIV/AIDS Indicator Survey (THIS) 7 percent of adult men and women are infected with HIV," a statement by the Tanzania Commission for AIDS said.

Previous studies took pregnant women or blood donated to blood banks as sample groups.

It collected data from questionnaires and voluntary blood tests of more than 12,000 people between 15 and 49 years.

Echoing the findings of a United Nations report released before World AIDS Day last December, the survey showed that the pandemic is increasingly taking on a female face.

Women make up nearly half the 37.2 million adults living with HIV around the world, and in sub-Saharan Africa they represent almost 60 percent of those infected.

The Tanzanian survey placed prevalence at 7.7 percent in women and 6.3 percent in men.

"In the 15 to 19 year age group about 2 percent of both men and women are HIV positive. Prevalence among women then rises steadily and peaks at 13 percent for women aged 30 to 34," the statement said.

The report found that more people were now practicing safe sex compared to five years ago although it noted that many expectant women were not aware that the chances of a baby getting infected fell when a woman took anti-retroviral drugs.

Last month, the Health Ministry said it planned to sharply increase the number of AIDS patients receiving anti-retrovirals (ARVs) to 44,000 by the end of this year with donor aid.

Currently, only 4,000 people are taking the government-sponsored ARVs although an estimated 200,000 are in dire need of the expensive drugs.

Despite a fall in price over the last few years, most Tanzanians surviving on less than a dollar a day, cannot afford the life-prolonging drugs.

Tanzania loses some 2,880 school teachers to AIDS every year while more than 1 million AIDS orphans in the east African country fall under the care of relatives above the age of 55.