Food, nutrition and HIV/AIDS

Although everyone knows that HIV/AIDS is a main health concern for many African countries, I was once again shocked by the numbers: Out of the 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS (or PLWHIV in WFP slang) worldwide, 22 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa. The overall adult HIV prevalence is 5%, while in some countries 25% of the adult population is infected. Women are much more likely to become a victim of HIV, as numbers show. In Swaziland, for example, prevalence rates amongst 15-24 year old women go up to 23% against only 6% of 15-24 year old infected men. 

Impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on livelihoods and food security are side folds: Next to the diminishing household productivity because of loss of human capital (when a family member dies), there are many other factors that play a role: medical costs and funerals can pose financial burdens on families of HIV/AIDS infected persons and physical capital is lost when families have to sell their land or other assets in order to be able to bear the financial costs of a sick family member. Traditional social safety nets risk falling apart when community members cannot take care of each other anymore because the care for their own sick family members already puts a heavy toll on them. On top of all of this, traditional knowledge, carried on from generation to generation, gets lost because of the premature fall out of adult family members. No need to say any more that the impact of HIV/AIDS touches every aspect of life and that the pandemic can literally tear up countries.

WFP contributes in various ways to fight HIV/AIDS. A few examples: food assistance to individuals can improve their nutritional status and thereby increase chances that the client adheres and responds to ART (antiretroviral) treatment. On the household level, providing family rations for families who have to spend a substantial part of their family income to treatment of a sick family member can prevent children from having to drop out from school because there is simply no more money left for school fees. On the livelihood level food assistance can prevent families having to sell their assets in order to meet their medical and nutritional needs. 

The most essential thing I learned this week though is that, no matter what form WFP’s interventions might take, nutritional support is essential in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It can make the difference between an ART-client dying in the first stages of treatment because of a poor nutritional status or responding to it and still having a future ahead of him. It can help families through tough times when having to take care of a sick family member and not having enough financial means to provide all of them with enough food. It can make the difference between a HIV-infected mother to gain strength in order to start treatment or dying prematurely, leaving her children without a mum. It makes a difference because it gives people strength in order to fight this disease and look forward to the future still ahead of them.