Millions Hungry Despite Good Harvests in Southern Africa: World Food Program

HIV/AIDS and poverty are contributing to ongoing food shortages in southern Africa despite recent good harvests, the UN's World Food Program Executive Director James Morris said today. "Good harvests do not necessarily mean people have enough to eat," said Morris. "Food and good nutrition are crucial in battling against HIV/AIDS but it is very tough to convince the international community of the complexity and depth of the pandemic in this region, especially when people's misery is masked by green fields and good harvests," he added. According to WFP, southern Africa suffers nine of the 10 highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world and many people in the region are too ill or too young to work the land or earn wages. What money many HIV/AIDS-affected families have is spent on medicines or funerals. "Unlike crises elsewhere, the humanitarian challenges caused by HIV/AIDS in southern Africa will linger on for generations," Morris said.

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