Pregnant Women HIV Rates Still High

October 8 - The South African government and health providers in the country are despairing over the number of pregnant women in the country who are infected with HIV.

According to the latest figures released by the government, around 29% of all pregnant women in the country have the HIV infection.

The government said that the survey, based on blood samples taken from nearly 35,000 pregnant women in antenatal clinics across South Arica, was a "useful tool" for health workers and insurance companies to observe trends in this field.

The Health Minister, Aaron Motsoa, would not comment on whether interventions over the years in an attempt to combat growing numbers of HIV infected pregnant women were working or failing.

One of the most frightening statistics revealed in the survey showed that the infection rate among women in the 30 to 34 year old age group rose from 2007 to a staggering 40.4% in 2008.

Ironically, the only decline came in the 15 - 24 age group which dropped from 22.1% in 2007 to 21.7% in 2008.

With blood samples taken from 52 health districts in South Africa, it was shown that age was the most important risk factor in the survey.

Women over the age of 22 years old were more likely to be infected, with the health minister stating: "Prevalence among women aged 25 years and above has stabilized at high and unacceptable levels."

Within the 22 years and over group, race was the next most important determining factor, with over 37% of African women carrying the infection, compared to 6.8% of other races (white, colored and Asian).

KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of recorded pregnant HIV positive women at 38.7%, while the Western Cape, with 16.1% had the lowest.