AIDS drug roll-out boosts South African life expectancy

Nandi Makhele poses for a portrait while wearing a T-shirt indicating that she is HIV-positive in Cape TownJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa has achieved a "stunning" increase in life expectancy in the last three years due to a government push to roll out antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to people with HIV/AIDS, researchers said on Thursday. The average South African is now likely to live to the age of 60, a study in the Lancet medical journal said, compared with just 56.5 in 2009 when President Jacob Zuma came to power with promises of a new approach to the country's HIV/AIDS burden. …