IRIN PlusNews HIV/AIDS Briefs, 20 August 2001

CONTENTS: SOUTH AFRICA: Food formula benefits AIDS patients SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS figures set to increase SOUTH AFRICA: Food formula benefits AIDS patients HIV/AIDS patients who are struggling to eat are benefitting from a new-formula food that can be made into either porridge or a milkshake by just adding cold water, ‘The Star’ reported on Monday. The formula, which has only been available since June, is being distributed by Community AIDS Response (CARE), an NGO that provides volunteer services to HIV-positive patients. Lauren Jankelowitz, project manager for CARE, told IRIN that food pacels containing “Lifeforce Nutroceutical” are distributed to destitute people living with HIV/AIDS in hospitals in the Johannesburg area and the formula had received “a tremendous response” from their clients. “It is all I can eat now because of these sores in my mouth that make it hard to swallow,” the newspaper quoted one woman as telling CARE. “I can work again for most of the day after eating that in the morning,” said another. The formula can be used by patients who have sores in their mouths, have diarrhoea or who simply want an affordable way to meet the nutritional requirements needed to maintain a stronger immune system. Manufacturer SMA Technologies decided to develop the formula because director Basil Kransdorff believed there was a market niche for a cheap meal-in-one designed to meet the needs of HIV/AIDS patients. Kransdorff told IRIN that the concept was to support people living with HIV/AIDS by providing them with an immune booster to ward off opportunistic diseases and the formula was not to be seen as a “cure” for HIV/AIDS. The result is a product made of maize meal, soya, milk powder and flavouring, with added vitamins and minerals, that comes in no-frils packaging and requires only the addition of cold water for use. The formula is available at US $0.14 (R1.20) for two meals and has generated interest from home-based care community organisations as well as large mining corporations such as Anglo-American. The manufacturers are now negotiating with community organisations to create a network to make the product more widley available to poor communities. SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS figures set to increase A new report indicates that between 6 million and 7.5 million South Africans could be infected with HIV in 10 years, SAPA reported on Friday. The report, based on research by non-governmental organisations and published by the HIV/AIDS youth awareness project loveLife, shows that four million South Africans were infected by December 2000 and estimates the figure could jump to 6.1 million by 2005 and 7.5 million by 2010. Fifteen percent of adults aged 20 to 64 are now infected, according to the researchers, who estimate that up to 23 percent of that group by 2005 and 27 percent by 2010 will have the virus. The report shows that women are heavily affected by the epidemic. Twenty-five percent of South African women and only five percent of men aged 15 to 19 will have HIV by 2010. The report also predicts that South Africa will have one million AIDS orphans under age 15 by 2005 and 2.5 million by 2010, the majority of whom will be over age four. AIDS deaths will rise from 120,000 last year to as many as 383,000 in 2005 and 635,000 in 2010, the report said. The researchers said that a 15 percent increase in condom use would lead by 2015 to a 150,000-case decrease in HIV/AIDS among those aged 20 to 25, and a 130,000-case drop in HIV/AIDS among 25- to 29-year-olds. For more on the report: http://www.lovelife.org.za/llwebsite/pubs/impending/imc2.pdf