Food insecurity exacerbates spread of HIV/AIDS

The World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed concern over the link between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity in many Southern African households. Recently addressing the Lusaka Press Club in Zambia, WFP deputy executive director, Sheila Sisulu, said while donors had responded generously to the pandemic and hunger in the region, it had not been with the urgency these issues deserved. She said the link between the region's HIV/AIDS and hunger crises was like a time bomb. Local newspaper The Post quoted Sisulu as saying: "Food is the first line of defence in the treatment of people with HIV/AIDS, food for us is essential. We [WFP] will provide food to families to protect the seed." WFP said it was committed to providing farming inputs and training farmers in conservation farming once the region had reached a recovery stage.