Johannesburg - South Africa's government faces impatient calls to publish a medical report which states that AIDS is its leading cause of death, contrary to assertions by President Thabo Mbeki.
Churches, trade unions and activists have implored the government to make the findings public and accused Mr Mbeki of attempting to downplay the impact of the disease. In South Africa, one in nine people is HIV-positive.
According to the report by the Medical Research Council of South Africa, 40 per cent of deaths among people aged between 15 and 49 are due to HIV/AIDS.
It estimates that if the spread of AIDS is not contained, it will kill six million South Africans by 2010.
The president earlier this month urged his health minister to review the money spent on caring for people with HIV/AIDS in the light of 1995 figures showing that the disease accounted for only 2.2 per cent of deaths in South Africa.