How AIDS Brings Famine Nearer in Southern Africa

Southern Africa's massive food crisis is not the same old story of drought equals famine in Africa. This time, there is hunger in the huts for reasons that have little to do with the weather.

In the months to come, aid organizations will work overtime to help keep the food flowing into southern Africa. Sadly, much of it will come too late. AIDS has ravaged families all over southern Africa, and many of the young men who would work the fields have died or are too weak to sow and reap. Either the AIDS pandemic or the food crisis alone would put tremendous pressure on a population struggling to subsist. Together, they are almost too much to bear.

In choosing who will receive food aid, the UN World Food Program and its implementing partners carry out assessments in various regions, examining overall needs. Locals set up committees to identify the most vulnerable, who are given ID cards and told to pick up food, once a month, at a distribution center. In some cases, food will be brought to the frail.

"AIDS patients, along with other sick people, need a different kind of nutrition to cope with their illnesses," said Caroline McAskie, a UN relief official. "Even with food, the situation is difficult."

"Dad gets sick and can't work the fields. Soon, mom is caring for him and not working," said Peter Dupree, HIV/AIDS advisor to the non-governmental organization Concern Worldwide in Malawi. "The kids are pulled out of school to work. The family starts less intensive crops that take less labor," he said. "More money is spent on medicines and less on seeds and fertilizers. The kids get sick. More money is spent on funerals. That's the story."

As the WFP rushes to avert starvation in the near term, the great need remains for long-term development projects. It is only these sorts of projects, observers say, that might someday ensure there will be no hungry seasons at all.

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