Mozambique: More than 100 schools still closed in areas affected by rebel attacks
Mozambique ranks third highest in the world for number of people living with HIV – Parliament’s HIV/AIDS Prevention Office
10:31 CAT | 15 May 2025
The chairperson of the Mozambican Parliament's HIV/AIDS Prevention Office (GPPC-HIV e SIDA), Deputy Zainaba Andala [Photo: Assembleia da Republica de Moçambique]
Mozambique has the third-highest number of people infected with HIV in the world, and the second-highest number of new AIDS infections, with “teenage girls and young women” the worst affected, according to a report released on Tuesday in parliament.
“Mozambique ranks third in terms of the number of people living with HIV in the world and second in terms of the number of new infections,” reads the annual report of the parliament’s HIV/AIDS Prevention Office, presented yesterday at the 1st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Republic, in Maputo.
According to the document, Mozambique has an estimated 2.3 to 2.6 million people living with HIV, including 125,000 to 170,000 children, with a prevalence of the disease of 12.5% in people over 15 years of age, “being higher in women (15%) than in men (9.5%) in the same age group”.
Among the most vulnerable groups affected by the disease in the country are “adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24”, with around 2,000 new infections recorded in 2023, a rate around three times higher than the number of new infections in boys and young men of the same age, it is further explained.
“Women face a disproportionate burden of HIV throughout the life cycle, with the disparity being even more pronounced among young women, aged 20 to 24, whose HIV prevalence is 3.1 times higher than that of their male counterparts (11.8% versus 3.8%),” the report adds.
Groups vulnerable to the virus in the country include, among others, mobile and migrant workers (including mine workers, with 22.3% prevalence, and long-distance truck drivers, with 15.4%).
“Although the country has made progress in recent years, challenges remain in controlling the HIV epidemic, which shows the need for joint, concerted efforts and the involvement of all stakeholders to improve the performance of the national response,” the document adds.
Source: Lusa
Show comments
Also read
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.