More than half of young adults in Swaziland between the ages of 25 and 29 are infected with the virus that causes AIDS, a government survey has found.

Africa is at the centre of a global AIDS crisis with over 25 million people believed to be infected with the HIV virus. The tiny southern kingdom of Swaziland with a population of one million is one of the worst affected by AIDS.

AIDS activists blame the high Swazi infection rate on a reluctance to test for HIV and a cultural taboo against publicly admitting you are ill.

“People are afraid to test, and so they are in denial when they have sex, and spread HIV,” said Thandi Hlengetfwa, director of The AIDS Support Centre, an HIV testing facility in the central commercial town of Manzini.

The AIDS pandemic is killing off a large swathe of the African continent’s work force, deepening poverty, hitting crop production and leaving an army of orphans in its wake.

The 9th HIV Sentinel Survey, carried out by the Swaziland National AIDS Task Force found the rate of infection among adults (19-49) rose to 42.6 percent from the 38.6 percent recorded last year and that 56 percent of young Swazis between the ages of 25 and 29 were infected.

A copy of the report was obtained by Reuters. It will be released later in the month by the health ministry.

Data for the HIV Sentinel Survey was taken from pregnant women who attended ante-natal clinics in 2004.

The group was considered a statistically valid model to project the HIV infection rate for the adult population as a whole.