Poor response to AIDS, food and drought crisis

Aid appeals by Namibia to help some 600,000 women and children survive the combined effects of HIV/AIDS, severe poverty and erratic weather have fallen flat. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF, the UN children's agency, recently launched an appeal for US $5.8 million to help authorities tackle the crisis, but donor governments have failed to respond. Abdirahman Meygag, who heads the WFP in Namibia, expressed disappointment at the lack of support, as the appeal sought to assist those with no other means of supporting themselves. Meygag told the UN news service PlusNews that these people were "already faced with consecutive poor harvests and high rates of HIV, [but] the recent floods have made the situation desperate and urgent".