BLANTYRE, Dec 8 (AFP) - A United Nations special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa said on Sunday he was disappointed with the world's slow reaction to the food crisis in southern Africa, where people in six countries face starvation.

"It's upsetting to see the slowness with which the world is responding to the humanitarian crisis," Stephen Lewis told a news conference at the start of a three-day official visit to Malawi, one of the countries affected by the famine.

He said his visit to the region was designed to make the world face up to the crisis, which threatens 15 million people.

"We know by visiting here the world will wake up to the crisis," he said.

Lewis has already been to Lesotho and Zimbabwe. From Malawi he will travel on to Zambia on Wednesday.

He attacked rich nations for their "hypocrisy and double standards" towards Africa, where people living with HIV and AIDS die more quickly than sufferers in rich nations because of food shortages.

"There is a terrible double standard as to why people in my country (Canada), for instance, can live longer with HIV and Africans must die," Lewis said.

He said AIDS was "tearing apart the heart of Africa".

"We know there is a lot of money out there but something must be profoundly wrong somewhere. Something is morally wrong."

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