DAR ES SALAAM, April 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Over half of the people living with HIV/AIDS in the world are found in sub-Sahara Africa, according to statistics released Thursday by a Tanzania-based health body.

    DR. Steven Shongwe, the executive secretary of the Commonwealth Regional Health Community for East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA Health Community), told Xinhua on Thursday that a recent survey among the 14 member countries under the body showed that the region has an estimated 30 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS, accounting for about 50 percent of the total worldwide.

    The 14 countries are Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Shongwe said the figure should obviously surpass 30 million if counting in HIV/AIDS infections in the other sub-Sahara countries.

    According to the survey, Swaziland, a tiny southern African country with a population of some 1.1 million, has the highest infection rates in the world with about 38 percent of its adults and 42 percent of pregnancy women HIV/AIDS positive.

    South Africa still has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the world whereas Mauritius, an island country in the southwest Indian Ocean, enjoys the lowest prevalence among the 14 countries.

    The research showed that in some sub-Sahara countries, life expectancy had declined to 39 years while maternal mortality had mounted up to around 1,000 per 100,000 live births due to the pandemic of the virus.

    The executive secretary of ECSA Health Community urged the responsible authorities in sub-Sahara Africa, the region with the highest HIV/AIDS cases and infection rates compared to other partsof the world, to roll back the virus through mass-supplying free anti-retroviral drugs, making the life-prolonging drugs available to poor people both in cities and rural areas who in dire need of it.

    He blamed poor management, insufficient manpower and the high costs of anti-retroviral drugs for the plight that the majority ofpeople living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Sahara Africa had not access to the drugs. Enditem