Two groups from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency have completed on-site assessments of two crises currently devastating southern Africa--widespread food shortages, and increasing HIV/AIDS infection rates.
Two groups from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency have completed on-site assessments of two crises currently devastating southern Africa—widespread food shortages, and increasing HIV/AIDS infection rates. Information gathered during these trips through Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana will be used to better coordinate the agency’s response to the situation.
“The two crises are inter-related in complex ways,” says Debbie Herold, technical advisor for reproductive health at ADRA International. “As the food shortage continues, people become more desperate and engage in risky behavior that increases the infection rate of HIV/AIDS; and the increase of infection weakens individuals, families, and communities already frail because of lack of food. The goal of this in-depth assessment is to devise a coordinated response by the ADRA network and its partner institutions.”
According to United Nations reports, the food shortage now threatens more than 14 million people throughout the southern Africa region, an increase of nearly two million since last May. It is estimated that within many parts of southern Africa up to a third of the adults are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In addition, there are more than four million orphans in that region, approximately half due to AIDS. A number of factors have contributed to the food shortage, including prolonged drought periods, flooding, disruption of farming, food transportation issues, fluctuating market prices of maize, and depletion of grain reserves.
Twelve individuals from ADRA were divided into two assessment groups, with each group including technical and administrative staff from ADRA International headquarters, country offices, and ADRA’s regional office for Africa.