AIDS cuts life expectancy insub-Saharan Africa by a quarter

The spread of HIV and AIDS in subSaharan Africa has far exceeded the worst projections, according to speakers at the 11th international conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Africa. In 13 countries the prevalence of HIV infection is more than 10% and in some it is as high as 30% At the conference in Lusaka, Zambia, last week, the epidemic was described as an unprecedented threat to the region's economic development.

At the end of 1998, 22.5 million people out of the …