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WFP wants more than just ARVs

    JOHANNESBURG

    The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that although donor nations were pumping huge sums of cash into HIV/AIDS treatment in Africa, Asia and Latin America, little thought was given to nutrition.

    WFP officials at the International AIDS conference in Toronto, Canada, called for action by all stakeholders to make food and nutritional support part of their antiretroviral (ARV) rollout packages.

    "We cannot win the battle against AIDS by focusing on drugs alone. Funding ARVs with no thought for food and nutrition is a little like paying a fortune to fix a car but not setting aside money to buy gas," said Robin Jackson, director of WFP's HIV/AIDS department.

    The organisation estimated that around one million of the 6.4 million people expected to begin taking ARVs in 2008 would need some kind of nutritional support.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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