AEGiS-AP: Zimbabwe: 1,200 AIDS Deaths a Week Associated PressImportant note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Zimbabwe: 1,200 AIDS Deaths a Week

The Associated Press - Sunday, April 18, 1999

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- More than 1,200 Zimbabweans are dying each week from AIDS, President Robert Mugabe said Sunday, acknowledging for the first time the enormity of an epidemic whose existence the government had previously underplayed.

In a speech marking the 19th anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence, Mugabe said a national AIDS council would be formed to unite all sectors of the nation against the epidemic.

"It is reversing the gains which the country has made since independence," Mugabe told a crowd of 20,000 at the national sports stadium.

Last year, government officials denied claims that 700 people were dying each week of AIDS in Zimbabwe.

However, the government then acknowledged that 20 percent of the country's 12.7 million people were infected with AIDS or HIV. Mugabe did not mention whether a higher percentage might now be infected.
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