December 1, 2000

WORLD AIDS DAY 2000
HIV/AIDS Is More Than a Health Crisis

“Government policy and development assistance aimed at assuring food security for all Africans must take into account changes in African societies caused by the AIDS tragedy,” said Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, director general of the Washington, D.C.-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IFPRI is beginning to look at how HIV and AIDS affect food insecurity in Africa and the rest of the developing world.

In the last two decades, HIV/AIDS has made it harder for poor people in developing countries to access the food they need to lead active and healthy lives. The anguish is no longer isolated within homes and hospitals. “For every HIV-positive household member in the developing world, there are another four who are or will be seriously affected by the pandemic,” said Stuart Gillespie, a research fellow at IFPRI.

As a result of HIV/AIDS, poor people are facing exorbitant health care costs, labor shortages, and a breakdown of traditional cropping systems and livestock management. The poor often have nowhere to turn except inward -- to families and friends. Children are pulled out of school to help compensate for the loss of adult labor, and women farmers caring for the sick can no longer tend to the fields.

HIV/AIDS as a development and food security problem is only starting to become a more integral part of the programs and policies of divergent sectors.

“Concerned development organizations must come together to share information and prioritize policy actions that will mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on food security for households and entire communities,” said Gillespie.

IFPRI identifies and analyzes policies for sustainably meeting the food needs of the developing world. IFPRI is one of 15 Future Harvest centers and receives its principal funding from 58 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).