The tremendous strain AIDS places on the health services of poor countries means that the incidence of other diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, has increased. The 1998 AIDS Conference held in Geneva named Zimbabwe as having the highest incidence of HIV infection, with an average of 26 percent of the population infected. In some parts of the country the infection rate is even higher. The tourist crossroads area of Victoria Falls has a 40 percent infection rate. Tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, other sexually transmitted diseases and preventable infections are also increasing, as are stillbirths and infant mortality.
Tuberculosis is a disease closely linked with poverty.
In 1986 there were 5,000 cases and in 1997, 35,000. The effect of growing poverty and instability, exacerbated by the AIDS epidemic, is swamping the health service. In 1993 life expectancy in Zimbabwe was 61. It is estimated that by the end of the century it will have dropped to 49. If the current pattern of HIV infection continues, UN officials say that by the year 2100 life expectancy in this country will be only 40 years.