WHO stats

I read about South Africa in the textbook and therefore I looked up South America on WHO.  One stat that pops out to me is the deaths from aids/ HIV.  I think of South Africa as one of the more elite countries in Africa.  However when looking at the stat of death by AIDS, 52% of deaths are caused by AIDS, it makes South Africa seem like they aren't such an elite state when it boils down to it.  They themselves have having trouble containing AIDS despite any educational advantages that they have over other african countries.  AIDS causes the most deaths among people, and causes the second most deaths among children.  However, there is also a lot of data that supports my idea of South Africa being one of the more elite african countries.  For instance, 98% of the country has access to an improved water source.  There are a couple of conclusion that can be drawn by looking at these stats.  South Africa is an elite country, they just put more money into infrastructure instead of medicine, and the general well being of their people.  From my point of view africa is doing the right thing.  Almost all other african countries need to improve their infrastructure before they can even begin to think about improving the health program.