Regional Profile

The Region: Eastern and Southern Africa ¹

• In 2010, almost half of all people living with HIV resided in Eastern and Southern Africa, a region with only 5.4 per cent of the global population.
• The 1.2 million [1.1 million–1.3 million] new HIV infections that occurred in 2010 in Eastern and Southern Africa represented almost half (46 per cent) of all new HIV infections globally.
• The rate of new infections in this region is slowing with about 24 per cent fewer new HIV infections in 2010, compared with 2001 (when an estimated 1.6 million people were newly infected).
• The total number of people living with HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa is increasing due to access to antiretroviral treatment; it reached 16.41 million in 2010 – about 9 per cent more than in 2001.
• AIDS has claimed at least half a million lives every year in Eastern and Southern Africa since 1996, with the death toll peaking at 1.23 million in 2004. Since then AIDS-related deaths have steadily decreased, as free antiretroviral therapy became more widely available in the region.
• The estimated 820,000 [740,000–900,000] deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in 2010 were down by 33 per cent compared with 2005. Over half of those deaths occurred in Southern Africa.

Southern Africa ²

• An estimated 13.3 million [12.7 million–14 million] people were living with HIV in Southern Africa in 2010, 12 per cent more than the 11.8 million [11.1 million–12.5 million] people living with HIV in the region a decade earlier.
• HIV incidence (number of people newly infected with HIV) is slowing and even declined by more than 25 per cent between 2001 and 2009 in some of the largest epidemics in the region, including South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• One million [920,000–1.1 million] new HIV infections that occurred in 2010 in Southern Africa represented almost all (81 per cent) of the new HIV infections for Eastern and Southern Africa.
• There were about 28 per cent fewer new HIV infections in 2010, compared with 2001 when an estimated 1.4 million people were newly infected.
• The total number of people living with HIV in Southern Africa is increasing; it reached 13.3 million in 2010 (about 12 per cent more than in 2001).
• AIDS has claimed at least half a million lives every year in Southern Africa since 1998, with that death toll peaking at 982,000 in 2005.
• AIDS-related deaths have steadily decreased, with an estimated 700,000 [640,000–770,000] deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in 2010. This number was down by 29 per cent compared with 2005, mainly as a result of the increasing availability of free antiretroviral therapy starting in the region.

Eastern Africa ³

• An estimated 5.4 million [5 million–5.7 million] people were living with HIV in Eastern Africa in 2010.
• The rate of new infections in this region appears to be stagnating, with about the same number of new HIV infections in 2010 as in 2001 (when an estimated 453,000 people were newly infected).
• The total number of people living with HIV in Eastern Africa is increasing; it reached 5.4 million in 2010 (about 2 per cent more than in 2001).
• In 2003 the death toll peaked at 468,000 and since then AIDS-related deaths have rapidly decreased with estimated 270,000 [250,000–310,000] deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in 2010 – 40 per cent fewer compared with 2003.

Regional HIV Statistics

Download epidemiological charts on HIV and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa

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^{1 Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eretria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia}

^{2 Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.}

^{3 Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda}