WFP to focus on HIV/AIDS

The World Food Programme (WFP) is set to expand its southern African humanitarian aid effort from traditional emergency food supply to a greater response to HIV/AIDS within the next six months. In partnership with other UN agencies and NGOs, WFP plans to transform its relief operations to focus more on the region's health crisis by offering nutritional support for communities hard-hit by the pandemic. In a recent interview with the British Financial Times, WFP executive director, James Morris, said: "It's less of a traditional food security problem and more of how do we begin to resolve the HIV/AIDS issue. HIV/AIDS is a crisis just as if people face a flood or a drought. It's a sustained problem." Southern Africa has the highest infection rate in the world, with up to 30 percent of the adult population living with HIV/AIDS in some countries. "Food is very important as the first line of defence [against AIDS]. The price of antiretroviral drugs is coming down - that is very good - but they are only effective if a person has adequate nutrition to allow the drugs to work," Morris said.