More emphasis was needed in Africa to fight HIV-Aids, said Health Minister Barbara Hogan on Monday.

According to statistics released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 22.5 million people infected by the HI virus are from sub-Saharan Africa.

"Emphasis is needed to invest more effort in addressing this issue," she said at the seventh Pan-African conference held at the Sandton Convention Centre.

She also commented on child pregnancies as one of the main problems affecting Africa because children missed out on education and got exposed to diseases that destroyed the economy of the country.

"We need clear plans on how to address the issue."

She said Africa needed clear plans on how to address diseases such as malaria and cancer.

"Eighty percent of malaria patients are from Africa. We need clear plans on how best we can tackle this problem," said Hogan.

Sapa