Agricultural production in nations like Zimbabwe, where 2,000 people die each week of AIDS, is falling. Businesses are going bankrupt because of the deaths of skilled, edu- cated staff members, according to the report. Hopes of better education are also in tatters. Children are leaving school because they are orphaned or forced to work to support their families. Hospitals are overwhelmed by.
Denial continues to be a problem.
Although all knew of the disease, none of them believed their parents had died of it. Most thought witchcraft or a curse was to blame. Piot said one of the reasons for the explosion of cases in southern Africa is the legacy of apartheid, which sep- arated men from their families in rural areas and forced them to work in towns, with only prostitutes for relief. But he said governments were also to blame for ignoring the problem for too long. What is happening in southern Africa should be a lesson for coun- tries today which don t have a big problem yet, he said.