Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 22, 2002
Dingilizwe Ntuli
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are most affected, but UN deputy relief co-ordinator Carolyn McAskie said the crisis's unanticipated growth was starting to touch people in Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zimbabwe has six million people in need of assistance, while 3.2 million face severe shortages in Malawi.
Nearly one million people need assistance in Zambia and the situation is projected to worsen following that government's refusal to accept genetically modified relief food, saying it fears there will be negative effects from the consumption of GM products.
McAskie says the food shortages, caused by drought in some regions and erratic rainfall in others, are being exacerbated by the HIV/Aids epidemic.
About 37% of Swaziland's population is infected with the disease, while in Zimbabwe, 36% of girls aged between 15 and 34 are infected.
McAskie said more than $600-million (about R6-billion) in aid was urgently needed to avert a humanitarian disaster.
The money is required for intervention in the health, nutrition and agricultural sectors.
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