One of the straws that the UNAIDS people are clinging to,
is that although yes, in West and East Africa HIV prevalence
levels were dramatically overstated, they are still valid for
Southern Africa.

Well here is an older DHS survey from Swaziland, which
found the same discrepancies between DHS and ANC
surveys there.

Alex



UNICEF DHS IN SWAZILAND

MBABANE, 27 August (PLUSNEWS) - A dramatically lower number of Swazi teenage girls are being
infected by HIV than was previously estimated, suggesting a turning point in the battle against
HIV/AIDS in a country with the world's highest HIV infection rates.

The findings in the report, 'A Baseline Study on HIV Risk Factors', commissioned by the UN
Childrens' Fund (UNICEF) are derived from interviews and blood tests of over 1,000 Swazis in two
rural areas and revealed that only six percent of girls aged from 15 to 19 were found to be
HIV-positive, with most of the HIV infections occurring among older girls.
"This is the first time we have had data from a scientifically accurate survey of randomly selected
households. It confirms some trends we had suspected, but which were belied by previous HIV
estimates," said Dr Alan Brody, country representative for UNICEF.

"This is different from anything that has been seen before. The conventional wisdom is that many
more girls were infected," he told PlusNews.

The study was prompted by the results of the government's 2002 sero-surveillance study, which
estimated that 32.5 percent of teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 were HIV-positive.

http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=3819&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=SWAZ
ILAND