HIV infections 'rising in Zambia'
07/12/2009
The number of people infected with the HIV virus has risen in Zambia, it has been reported.
According to the country's National AIDS Council (NAC), the number of HIV infections in Zambia has increased noticeably over the last two years.
The rate of new HIV infections rose from 70,000 in 2007 to 82,000 this year, Xinhua News quotes the Zambia Daily Mail as reporting.
Chairperson of the NAC Joshua Banda is quoted as saying that 79 per cent of these new infections resulted from active people having sex with non-regular partners.
According to the news provider, Mr Banda stated: "What is more worrying about this data is that even those who are faithful to their partners are getting infected and so, this is a wake-up call for all of us to do something to avoid the spread of the pandemic."
In September, the Post of Zambia reported that the country could fail to meet a number of UN Millennium Development Goals because of the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Written by Clare Devlin
