The AIDS epidemic is raging throughout southern Africa, and Zimbabwe is one of the world's worst hit countries. A quarter of the adult population is infected. Up to a fifth of the country's children have lost at least one parent to the disease.

This protester demanding that governments divert military spending to AIDS/HIV research and treatment, sends a poignant message to Jamaica's sex workers.

The pandemic is having profound effects on the country's health system, economy, and development. AIDS is touching everyone in Zimbabwean society. Already, 2,500 people a week are dying of the disease, and the figure is expected to rise rapidly in the coming decade.

An estimated 2,000 people in Zimbabwe die weekly due to AIDS-related illnesses

high infection rate

Zimbabwe has a high infection rate for HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Experts say a combination of economic, social and cultural factors have contributed to the alarming spread of the disease in this country, where it is primarily transmitted through sexual intercourse and, in some cases, by infected mothers to their children during pregnancy.

It is estimated that 25 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 45 are infected with HIV. In some of the areas where the plan is working, the infection rate is as high as one in three.

AIDS has been accepted as both a public health and development problem. The HIV epidemic began in the early 1980s, spread rapidly, and it is now estimated that over 2,000 people countrywide die every week due to AIDS-related illnesses. The developmental consequences are seen in the reversal of gains in life expectancy, which is now down to 46 from 54 in 1992.

The young have not been spared by this epidemic. The increasing impact of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe is seen in the rising numbers of orphans, street children, reports of sexual abuse of minors, teenage pregnancy and sexually-transmitted incidences among children and young people.