Where death is a high growth business

An interesting read in the Baltimore Sun about the death industry in Malawi, though it could be just about anywhere in Africa. When I visited Malawi and other southern African countries the same point struck me. The death industry, whether it's making coffins or offering burial services, was about the hottest business I saw. TV ads, newspaper ads, billboard signs...the advertisements for such services were everwhere. Pass any town, village or hamlet and you will always see signs of recent burials. One mayor of a town of 10,000 people told me her village burried 50 people per week though nobody ever said it was AIDS. (People die of tuberculosis but never AIDS, when you ask.) In a region where HIV rates can exceed 30% of the population, I guess this industry should not be much of a surprise, as shocking as it may be to outsiders.