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Oxfam International on Monday said not enough was being done to assist people living with HIV/AIDS in six southern African countries most affected by serious food shortages.
The development agency appealed to donors to supply non-maize food with high nutritional value such as oil, beans and pulses, noting that people living with HIV/AIDS had higher energy and protein requirements.
"Despite a growing awareness among the international community to the urgency of the crisis, not enough has been done to target people living with HIV/AIDS due in part to the international community only recently being forced to address the issue," Oxfam regional humanitarian advocacy officer, Esther Vigneau-Kuisch, told PlusNews.
Some 16 million people in Southern Africa are living with HIV/AIDS.
Oxfam said despite recent vulnerability assessments which showed the importance of providing adequate health services, nutrition and water, only 20 percent of non-food humanitarian needs in the region had been covered.
The agency called for a commitment from governments' to increase poor people's access to health care and essential medicines, including antiretrovirals.
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