Harare - More than 1,200 Zimbabweans are dying each week from AIDS, President Robert Mugabe said yesterday, acknowledging for the first time the scale of an epidemic whose existence the government had previously underplayed.
In a speech marking the 19th anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence, Mr Mugabe said a national AIDS council would be formed to unite all sectors of the nation against the epidemic.
"It is reversing the gains which the country has made since independence," Mr Mugabe told a crowd of 20,000 at the national sports stadium in Harare.