Sierra Leone's HIV/AIDS Statistics

Is there a problem of HIV/AIDS and mediocrity and under-performance among the youths in Sierra Leone? See for yourself.

Fact: The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) in the year 2000 stated that HIV infection in the country stood at about 1,500 persons.

Fact: However, according to The World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Associates' 1999 study on the HIV/AIDS problem in Sierra Leone, the GoSL statement was a gross underestimation: there could in fact be a HIV infection rate as high as 160,000 persons.

Their extrapolations were based on these facts:

  • in 1999, 24 percent of about 1,000 men who applied to become candidates for cadet officer courses in the Sierra Leone tested HIV-positive.
  • 60 percent of commercial sex workers in Freetown tested HIV-positive.
  • about 17 percent of females who went for ante-natal care tested HIV-positive.

What the study raises alarm about is that once the HIV infection rate reaches the 5 percent threshold in any country, it would begin to grow dramatically in a society. iEARN Sierra Leone embarks upon a serious challenge indeed as we attempt to educate our people about this terrible epidemic.