SANDF HIV/AIDS rate at 8.5%: defence force
SANDF soldiers. File photo.
Image by: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES
Image by: GALLO/GETTY IMAGES
The SA National Defence Force has a HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 8.5%, spokesman Colonel Louis Kirstein said on Tuesday.
"There are various organisations and researchers who claim that the defence force has an HIV/AIDS rate of 28%," he said in a statement.
He dismissed this claim, and said a study was done which showed an HIV prevalence rate of 8.5%, compared to the national prevalence rate of about 19%.
"This figure was obtained from the SANDF health status report of September 2011, and was reconfirmed in a HIV prevalence study done during August 2012," said Kirstein.
It was conducted among regular force and military skills development system members.
Another study was being planned for 2013.
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