Differences in HIV death rates ‘not understood’

File photo: Michael Weinstein, President of Aids Healthcare Foundation, speaks at the Making Safer Sex Sexy panel discussion during the International Aids Conference.

File photo: Michael Weinstein, President of Aids Healthcare Foundation, speaks at the Making Safer Sex Sexy panel discussion during the International Aids Conference.

Published Sep 5, 2012

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Johannesburg - HIV-positive men in South Africa are a third more likely to die than HIV-positive women, according to the Star newspaper on Wednesday.

Men presenting late also played a role in some cases, the newspaper reported.

The report in the PLOS Medicine journal resulted from a study which evaluated the country's antiretroviral programme to improve service delivery, with particular interest shown in the differences between men and women.

The report did however state the different death rates were likely attributable to death rates in the general population and unrelated to HIV, the newspaper reported.

Researchers also acknowledged that the difference in death rates between men and women with HIV were not very well understood, according to the Star.

An alternative theory was that men's primary healthcare needs were neglected. - Sapa

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