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Emergency Preparedness Bulletin: special edition on HIV/AIDS and food security, January 2004
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Editorial
As Zimbabwe experiences another difficult year,
with the economy declining further, an erratic start to
the rainy season, and food shortages escalating in
both urban and rural areas, the stories that people are
telling us become ever more harrowing. A previous
issue of this bulletin presented several studies
conducted by a number of NGOs, indicating that
poverty and the need for food were forcing young
girls and boys into commercial sex. This in turn has
contributed to the escalating HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The current bulletin looks at some of the human
stories behind these grim statistics, and looks into
the link between HIV/AIDS and the worsening food
security situation in the country.
Many families describe a vicious circle. Poverty,
hunger and the need to sustain their families force
young women into commercial sex, subject to the
whims of clients who often refuse to use condoms for
protection. The almost inevitable contraction of
HIV/AIDS then means that a former breadwinner
needs to be looked after, often by young children or
older grandparents. This means less agricultural
activity, less time in employment and more family
resources spent on medicine and care. Children drop
out of school or are forced to contribute to family
survival by working long, unsocial hours that are in
clear contravention of basic child protection
principles. Faced with further destitution younger
family members sometimes resort to the same
activities that have led to the premature illness and
subsequent death of their parents.
In such a context, food aid should not be seen
solely as a means of preventing malnutrition, but as a
resource that allows some families the freedom to be
able to opt out of this vicious cycle. At a time when
several million people remain excluded from food aid
programmes because of a lack of funds, Save the
Children (UK) would urge both the international
community and the Government of Zimbabwe to
keep this in mind when decisions are made about the
allocation of resources. There can be no other
priority more urgent in the country at present than
breaking the link between poverty and the spread of
HIV/AIDS.
Chris McIvor
Save the Children (UK)
Programme Director, Zimbabwe
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