Inter Press Service - June 30, 2000
Marwaan Macan-Markar

This study, conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), will pay particular attention to the needs of the farming population affected by killer diseases in that southern African nation, which has close to 16 perce nt of its populace infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

Such an effort by the FAO is one among a series of initiatives it has begun pursuing to help shift the current focus on AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). For the FAO, the AIDS pandemic has evolved from being, simply, a health issue.

And this United Nations agency wants governments to acknowledge that aspect of AIDS in their effort to stall the spread of this killer disease. Already, admits Jacques de Guerny, many international agencies have b egun to regard the disease as a problem critical to development, particularly in the rural areas.

"Given the fact that populations of many developing countries are s till overwhelmingly rural, the AIDS pandemic represents a tremendous chall enge to rural people and to institutions dealing with rural issues," says G uerny, who heads the Population Programme Service and the HIV/AIDS section of th e FAO. Particularly troubling to Guerny is the issue of food security and nutrition in rural communities dealing with AIDS.

According to an FAO report "HIV/AIDS and Food Security" there i s increasing evidence that the disease, particularly in Africa, has increased "labour bottlenecks in agriculture," consequently leading to such burdens a s greater food insecurity in many households and widespread malnutrition.

Such a need to consider the larger implications of this pandemic can be understood, furthermore, in light of another recent report that HIV/A IDS has progressively acquired a rural face after having been considered for years an "urban problem."

That report, which was released on the eve of the Copenhagen Plus Fiv e, the international Social Summit follow-up conference held in Geneva from Jun. 26 to 30, observed how in some countries the gap between HIV rates in urban and rural areas "is narrowing."

In India, for instance, where 73 percent of the population is rural, "recent studies have shown that HIV is spreading faster in some rural areas t han in urban ones." In many African countries, on the other hand, the urba n and rural HIV prevalence rates were considered similar.

"Rural HIV often remains silent and invisible," remarked the repo rt, produced jointly by the FAO and the UN's department for AIDS (UNAIDS). Consequently, it added, HIV in rural populations often remains "an unknown entity for policy-makers and development planners."

This week, such a view was also echoed by the latest "Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic," published by UNAIDS ahead of the 13th Internati onal AIDS Conference, which begins on Jul. 9 in Durban, South Africa.

Agriculture, which in many developing countries provides a living for as much as four-fifths of the population, "is suffering from serious disrup tions," it states.

In West Africa, it points out, the impact of this pandemic had led to reduced cultivation of cash crops and a decrease in food production.

For Kathleen Cravero, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS, the di sease has contributed to an "unprecedented development crisis," thus "und ermining achievement in social development."

"Unless we address AIDS, we cannot make progress on poverty and unl ess we do more to eradicate poverty, AIDS will remain a major threat," added Cravero, during her speech at the panel discussion, "Combating HIV/AIDS, " at the Geneva 2000 Forum, the venue of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Copenhagen Plus Five meet.

Currently, according to the UNAIDS global report, HIV prevalence rate s among 15- to 49-year-olds have either reached or exceeded 10 percent in 16 countries, all of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

In that African region, it notes further, there are close to 24.5 mil lion adults and children living with HIV, and the pace at which it is spre ading is far higher than ever before.

According to the FAO, the spread of HIV in rural communities has been accelerated by an increase in migration, trade, the movement of refug ees and strengthened urban-rural links.

What matters now, it asserts, is for governments to include the prese nce of this pandemic when forming agricultural and development policies. "Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development should be sensitised about HIV/AIDS education and advocacy, and where required, should renew their policies and act ivities."

Equally important, it adds, are strengthened health facilities to rep lace those that prevail -- often inadequate health services compelled to face th e brunt of care for people with HIV in rural areas.

Currently, it states, many rural families have been compelled to prov ide most of the care for AIDS patients, with households bearing most of the co sts for food, medicine and funeral expenses.

"Tending for the sick can take a considerable amount of time, which is then no longer available for agriculture," argues the FAO. "As a result, more remote fields tend to be left fallow, and switching from labour-intensive to less labour-intensive crops is more likely."

The FAO's concern has not been lost on a leading African organisati on, the Economic Commission for Africa (EFC). Next week, in fact, the EFC wil l begin to seek views from around the world about relevant ways to combat the im pact of AIDS on development through a global online discussion, "AIDS: The Greatest Leadership Challenge."

What has prompted such a discussion is the degree to which HIV/AIDS h as undermined progress in development. For the EFC, this killer disease "is no longer merely a health problem, but poses a major development crisis on the continent." (END/IPS/HE/DV/mmm/da/00).
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