Southern Africa is facing a serious humanitarian crisis with severe long-term consequences affecting the entire region. Erratic rainfall, poor governance, poverty, unsustainable debt, failing agricultural policies, unfair international trade regimes, and collapsing public services have all contributed to the current situation, but without HIV/AIDS the crisis would not be of the same dimensions.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is at the heart of the crisis, which threatens the lives of some 16 million people. In some of the most countries affected, rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence are as high as 33 per cent, with widespread effects on health, education, and productivity throughout society.
The humanitarian crisis in Southern Africa has already had a devastating impact in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Angola, but its ripples touch neighbouring countries and the rest of the continent. The crisis will not ease with the next harvest - this is much more than a short-term food shortage. Even worse, HIV/AIDS is cutting people down in the prime of their productive years, leaving a growing number of households headed by grandparents, single parents, and children, and increasingly unable to produce food.
Children are especially vulnerable, because they lose their carers, teachers, and parents, and are at greater risk of exploitation and HIV infection. For those already infected and weakened by the virus, hunger accelerates the progression from HIV to full-blown AIDS.
The international community must therefore:
- Increase funding for food aid and provide those food items that meet the specific needs of people infected with HIV. Food should be procured locally and regionally whenever feasible.
- Increase funding for non-food needs in the region, including health, nutrition, water, and sanitation.
- Ensure all programming and funding activities respond to the impact of HIV/AIDS and the specific needs of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Commit to increase significantly poor people's access to health care and essential medicines, including antiretroviral drugs.
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