HIV/AIDS Background in Namibia

• Namibia's relatively small population of 2 million people has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world.
• Approximately 17% of the sexually active adult population lives with the virus
• The United Nations' Population Division figures suggest that somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 Namibians are living with HIV or AIDS.
• In 2000, AIDS was Namibia's number one cause of death and accounted for 28% of deaths in all age groups; about 67 percent of the deaths over the the past decade were AIDS-related.
• The Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare now has 140,000 children under the age of 15 registered as orphans; most of these have lost one or both parents dure to AIDS.
• Figures from UNICEF suggest the proportion of all children under 17 years of age who have lost one or both parents to AIDS may be as high as 49 percent, possibly even higher.
• At independence in 1990, life expectancy stood at 60 years. In only 16 years it has dropped to around 40 years.
• The spread of HIV/AIDS is exacerbated by high unemployment rates, poverty and violence against women and children.
• HIV/AIDS is one of the top issues affecting Namibia in relation to its social economic development. No family is unaffected.

Sources:

Groenewald P., Nannan N., Bourne D., Laubscher R., Bradshaw D., "Identifying deaths from AIDS in South Africa". AIDS 2005, 19:193-201

UNICEF, Africa's Orphan Generations, UNICEF 2006.51