ZIMBABWE: An estimated 20 Zimbabweans die every hour from Aids and the virus is the number one killer of children under the age of five, according to new figures from Unicef Zimbabwe.
The new research shows that the scale of the crisis facing Zimbabwe is reaching epidemic proportions, with a staggering 1.8 million people contracting the disease in 2003 alone.
Due to the lack of availability of HIV/Aids-related medical care, the population's life expectancy has plummeted from 61 to 38 over the past 10 years, leaving more than 1.3 million children orphaned.
But despite these startling figures from Unicef, the United Nations' children's organisation, the Aids issue has yet to be addressed by the main political parties campaigning for the general election on March 31st.
At rallies of the ruling Zanu/PF party, candidates colourfully address their constituents about the party's revolutionary background and the evils of imperialism, using the party's anti-British stance as their election rallying cry.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is focusing on the collapse of the economy in recent years, on the need for more economic ties to the West and on the lack of appropriate conditions to support a free and fair election.
Although Unicef has listed Zimbabwe as having the fourth-highest rate of HIV infection - at 24.6 per cent of the population - in the world, repeated requests by the Zimbabwean government last year for a $280 million aid grant from the US-controlled Global Aids Fund were refused.
Unicef Zimbabwe spokesman James Elder insists that, irrespective of the outcome of the March 31st election, the world must differentiate between politics and the people of Zimbabwe.
"Every day, kids in Zimbabwe are dying from and becoming infected with HIV/Aids," he said. "It was amazing to see individuals and governments respond to the countries and people affected by the tsunami that hit on December 26th last - it was inspiring. But Zimbabwean children are experiencing that very same kind of need in terms of large-scale aid, and it just hasn't been forthcoming yet."
According to Trevor Ncube, editor of the Zimbabwean Independent, the failure to debate the Aids crisis in the general election campaign has highlighted the shortcomings which exist within both main parties.
"It is without doubt a failure by the leadership of the Zanu/PF party not to articulate such an issue of national importance, and it is wrong that it has been left up to the non-governmental organisations working here to deal with the problem," he said.
"The parties have a captive audience for the next few weeks and they could get a lot of information across to the people, but I think there is still the perception at a high level that the disease has an unwanted stigma attached to it."
Mr Ncube was also very critical of the MDC over its approach to Zimbabwe's Aids crisis.
"The MDC lacks originality, initiative and creativity, so I am not surprised they have done nothing. They seem to follow the herd instinct and rush to address the issues Zanu/PF highlights," he told The Irish Times.
"The handling of Zimbabwe's Aids crisis is also being hampered by the West's attitude towards the ruling Zanu/PF party, led by President Robert Mugabe, whom they view as a dictator and unlawful ruler of the country."