PRI’s ‘Marketplace’ Reports on South African Businesses Benefiting From AIDS-Related Deaths

PRI's "Marketplace" yesterday began a two-part series on the "growing number of people who are actually benefiting from the rising death toll" from AIDS-related causes in South Africa. The first segment examines how businesses in the funeral industry, such as crematoriums, funeral parlors, memorial parks, coffin makers and grave diggers, are "getting rich as more people begin to die." PRI reports that South Africa's death rate from AIDS-related causes -- which is expected to climb by 20% each year and total six million deaths by the end of the decade -- has made funeral homes a "guaranteed growth industry." In two years, the number of undertakers in South Africa has almost tripled, from 1,500 to 4,000. The second segment in the series, which will air today, will examine how the "overwhelming cost" of burying the dead is having a "sobering economic impact" on families and communities (Costello, "Marketplace," PRI, 3/4). The full segment is available in RealPlayer online. In addition, a slideshow of images related to the story is available online.