Food shortages could increase HIV/AIDS deaths

The severe food shortages experienced by many southern African countries and the resultant poor nutrition could contribute to a rise in HIV/AIDS-related deaths in the region, aid organisations said on Wednesday.

A Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report said that rural areas had the added disadvantage of a lack of HIV/AIDS education and poor health services, making these poor communities increasingly vulnerable to HIV infections during periods of food shortages.

UNAIDS Programme Development Advisor Elesani Njobvu told IRIN: "Families lacking sufficient nutritious food are more vulnerable, as poor nutrition is closely linked with poor health. This in turn makes a person more vulnerable to HIV infection and can shorten the incubation period of HIV, meaning that symptoms appear sooner.

"And the situation is [the] worst for the poor who have the least access to medical care."

Njobvu added that people struggling with daily survival are less likely to take preventative measures and are "inclined to resort to any means to get food".

Poverty, according to the FAO, also increases migrant labour, family break-ups and homelessness - contributory factors that increase the likelihood of having multiple sexual partners and the risk of HIV infection.

Florence Maseba, national co-ordinator of the Zimababwean AIDS Council, told IRIN that food shortages in Zimbabwe affected poor rural women the most. "Poor women are especially vulnerable, especially if they are HIV-positive or have AIDS. They have little power over any aspect of sexual relations, meaning that they are at high risk if their husbands are infected."

According to the FAO report: "More people living with HIV reside in rural areas. The epidemic is spreading with alarming speed into the remotest villages, cutting food production and the very life of rural communities."

The FAO estimates that nearly four million people in Southern Africa will need emergency food assistance this year, mostly in rural areas.

Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the hardest hit by the food shortages. All five countries are also among the top nine African countries most affected by the AIDS epidemic.