HIV positive men more likely than women to die

HIV-positive men in South Africa are a third more likely to die than HIV-positive women.

Men presenting late also played a role in some cases, according to the Star newspaper.

The report in the PLoS Medicine journal resulted from a study which evaluated the country's antiretroviral programme to improve service delivery, with particular interest shown in the differences between men and women.

The report did however state the different death rates were likely attributable to death rates in the general population and unrelated to HIV, the newspaper reported.

Researchers also acknowledged that the difference in death rates between men and women with HIV were not very well understood, according to the Star.

An alternative theory was that men's primary health care needs were neglected.

PLoS One has a collection of articles on AIDS