According to a new study by the Red Cross the AIDS epidemic in southern Africa is so severe that it should be classed as a disaster comparable to floods or famine.
The 'World Disasters Report', an annual report from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says without doubt HIV/AIDS meets the United Nations criteria for definition as a disaster.
The UN classification for a disaster is a "serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of a society to cope using only its own resources", and the IFRC says such a situation exists in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa which is home to about two-thirds of the world's HIV-positive cases, has at least one person in ten living with HIV, this is in countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia.
The report says the consequences of the epidemic are felt by all of society and not just those who are sick, because of the economic strain and social tensions imposed and any examination of the lives of most people living in sub-Saharan Africa is a cause for alarm.
According to the report the HIV virus is directly responsible for restraining and reducing human and resource capacities across societies because HIV infections and AIDS deaths are common among all workers across all sections of society.