From the Campaign Trail
Food security is vital for people living with HIV
By, Clementine Mumba, HDN key correspondent in Zambia, June 11, 2007
Many people living with HIV (PLHIV) are too poor to take care of their health properly. Even among those people with access to free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, many cannot afford to maintain the balanced diet they need to compliment the drugs. Supporting these people would require a well thought out policy, promoting the self-sufficiency of people living with disease. In 2004, an organization that I belong to called the Network of ARV Users lodged a Project Proposal with the Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN) for a chicken-rearing programme that would generate income for people living with HIV. The idea was well articulated and looked good on paper so the project was approved by ZNAN and was launched in January 2005. more...
Feature Story
ARVs and food security in Zambia
By, William Chilufya, HDN Key Correspondent in Zambia, June 26, 2007
For people living with HIV (PLHIV), good nutrition is essential for continued good health. Yet, for too many PLHIV in Zambia, especially in rural areas, getting enough to eat adds enormously to life?s daily challenges. ?I have no money to buy food and am on ARVs [antiretroviral drugs],? said Lillian, a mother with one child. Lillian?s husband died from AIDS-related complications three years ago. ?My son and I sometimes spend the whole day without eating anything ? I feel dizzy and weak if I do not eat when I take the drugs, and then I can?t do anything.? more...
Burundi: Food cuts for HIV-positive people worry NGOs
By, IRIN PlusNews, August 15, 2007
AIDS advocacy groups in Burundi are worried that a decision by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to cut special feeding programmes next year for HIV-positive people will harm their long-term health. Drought, crop disease, endemic poverty and more than a decade of instability mean Burundi suffers from serious food insecurity. WFP is expected to feed an estimated 874,000 Burundians by the end of 2006, including particularly vulnerable groups such as internally displaced persons, school children and HIV-positive people. However, the agency's new policy means that feeding programmes for people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS will come to an end in December 2006 and will not be renewed. more...
Homespun technology provides HIV-free breastmilk
By, Michael Malakata, Science and Development Network, May 25, 2007
Researchers have devised a simple and cost-effective method of preventing breastmilk transmission of HIV from mother-to-child by 'flash-heating' infected milk to inactivate the free-floating HIV virus. A study, published online in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (21 May), provides hope that breastfeeding in developing nations could become safer. more...
Spotlight
Lesotho: Hungry for assistance
By, IRIN Plus News, July 18, 2007
In the wake of the most severe drought in 30 years, the kingdom of Lesotho has declared a state of emergency and appealed for international assistance for over 400,000 people in need of urgent food aid. "Food assessments conducted by local and international institutions and organisations, including the [government's] Disaster Management Authority, the [UN] Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), ... all confirm a food crisis," Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili said in a recent statement. more...
ACW Alert
South Africa: New report confirms nutrition no substitute for treatment
By, IRIN PlusNews, August 22, 2007
There is no evidence that better nutrition can substitute for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, a new report has found. These findings might seem unremarkable anywhere else in the world, but not in South Africa, where the issue of nutrition has been tainted by a damaging debate that has tended to frame it as an alternative to ARVs. Statements by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, suggesting that eating garlic, beetroot and olive oil, could delay the need to take ARVs, have created widespread confusion in the country with the world's highest HIV caseload. more...
Real Speak
A call for assistance with self-sufficient food security in Zambia
By, Bright M Mweemba, HDN key correspondent in Zambia, August 8, 2007
The food security of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Zambia needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. The food supplements that some people get are not a long term solution. Just as antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) are considered a lifelong necessity, so should food security. The solution lies in finding ways of empowering PLHIV. I suggest that a policy of voluntary resettlement to productive farming areas should be put in place in Zambia. The government needs to set up a revolving fund for this purpose. more...
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