An estimated 1.4 million [1.3 million–1.6 million] adults and children were living with HIV in the United Republic of Tanzania at the end of 2005, making it one of the most-affected countries in the world. Here, too, HIV infection levels have diminished somewhat—from 8.1% to 6.5% nationally between 1995 and 2004.

There are signs that injecting drug use, which has spread rapidly in East Africa (McCurdy et al., 2005a) could also become a contributing factor in Tanzania’s epidemic. Based on HIV data collected at antenatal clinics, national adult HIV prevalence in Ethiopia in 2005, with infection levels more than five times higher in urban (10.5%) than in rural (1.9%) areas. The most recent data from neighboring Eritrea also indicate a stable epidemic. This is consistent with the HIV prevalence of 2.8% and 2.4% found in 2001 and 2003, respectively. No new HIV data are available for Somalia, where a 2004 sentinel surveillance survey found comparatively low HIV infection levels of 0.9% among pregnant women nationally.

Almost a million people [940 000 with a range of 480 000–1.4 million] were living with HIV in Malawi in 2005. Adult national HIV prevalence was estimated at 14.1% [6.9%–21.4%] in 2005 (UNAIDS, 2006). HIV infection levels in Malawi overall appear to have stabilized since the turn of the century. Overall HIV prevalence among women attending antenatal clinics in Zambia has also stayed relatively stable since the mid-1990s, and has remained at 19%–20% between 1994 and 2004 among pregnant women aged 15–39 years.

Source: UNAIDS, 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2006