AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA: OUT OF MEDIA, OUT OF MIND
Since March this year more than 5 000 people have died of Ebola.
The world's attention has quite rightly been focused on this deadly disease - and on progress made in combating the spreading of the infection. Ebola stories have dominated the news - and have had a major impact on tourism and travel, not only to the affected countries, but to destinations throughout Africa. There is hardly an evening without some or other story on international TV or in the press that is related to the disease.
And yet throughout this period - during each week and every week since March this year - an average of 3 300 people have died of AIDS in South Africa. So, since the beginning of the Ebola epidemic about 120 000 South Africans (three times the capacity of Newlands Rugby Stadium) have died of AIDS.
There are no longer any news stories about AIDS. The media does not cover the thousands of funerals that take place every week. AIDS deaths have become a part of our daily life. And yet each death is a tragedy to someone: to partners, brothers and sisters - to parents who bury their children - and to all the friends left behind. The most severe impact is often on the children of AIDS victims - who go on to join the more than two million orphans who have lost one or both parents to the disease.
Of course, the situation has improved dramatically since the height of the epidemic in 2005 - when 364 000 people died of AIDS. They comprised more than half of the total number of deaths that year. By comparison, "only" 171 000 people are expected to die of the disease this year - now representing a little less than a third of all deaths.