Humanitarian emergency "more than a food crisis"

The explosive combination of acute food shortages and the HIV/AIDS epidemic has called for a "total rethink" when dealing with Southern Africa's current humanitarian emergency, UN agencies and NGOs said at a two-day meeting to address the crisis. The epidemic aggravated the emergency in the region and the crisis was "not just a food crisis", delegates said at the meeting organised by UNAIDS and the UN Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Support Office (RIACSO) in Johannesburg, South Africa, this week. "The connection between HIV/AIDS and food security has not always been recognised. The food crisis is the manifestation of a larger HIV/AIDS crisis," Urban Jonsson, UN Children's Fund Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa noted. From December to March, 14.4 million people in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland face the threat of starvation. In every country, HIV/AIDS has played a major role in exacerbating the crisis. Earlier this year when it became clear to UN agencies that there was a pending famine in the six countries, a conventional response was prepared. "We all have routines - it was announced by the mass media as a food crisis and the food-based agencies responded as they usually do in this part of their work," Jonsson told PlusNews. "And around July and August it became clear to observers that this famine or threat of famine was not a traditional famine it was a 'new variant famine'. And it was new because we discovered that the causes of the famine were not just bad weather," he added. A lower capacity to cope and increased vulnerabilities caused by the epidemic are features of this crisis. Food production has been lowered as a result of more adult deaths and there has been a higher dependency ratio, as the premature death of adults has meant fewer adults supporting the same number of children. The initial response to this "new" type of famine was mixed. "When I discovered this in July ... I said this was an HIV/AIDS-induced famine. And people were saying 'no don't complicate things' and I said 'but it is complicated'," Jonsson said. But the recent mission by the UN Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa James Morris, proved to be the turning point, shifting the focus to include HIV/AIDS. "The Jim Morris mission came and he came out very strongly saying that food is absolutely necessary, but today it will not solve the problem because the underlying causes of the HIV/AIDS pandemic will not make this famine a normal famine. "There is no end to it because people are too weak to plant, too weak to harvest so this will go on. The problems don't go away with better weather. That means the response governments and the international community make must recognise that," he added. Food has now become even more important. "In the traditional famine, people could cope by tightening their belts. They can't do that anymore if one-third is HIV positive. They need more and even better food," Jonsson noted. "Food is the first defence. The challenge will be how to use food in a more strategic way to tackle the epidemic," World Food Programme's Deputy Emergency Coordinator Deborah Saidy said at the meeting. The current crisis was, however, an opportunity to make people aware of the catastrophe. "This is a chance to influence politicians and what I call the silent community, through the back door. There are ministers of finance, foreign affairs throughout the continent who refuse to talk about HIV/AIDS but they will talk about the food shortage," Jonsson said. According to Jonsson, a major outcome of the meeting was the need to develop a new strategy. Interventions concentrating on food alone were no longer enough. He said: "When we prepare the next Consolidated Appeal Process, we will address the whole problem. We cannot divide it - we have to do it all." But this holistic approach required cooperation, he warned. "We in the UN feel very strongly that we have to work together, that makes our response more effective."