HIV/AIDS and food security in emergency situations

The Humanitarian Policy Group discusses the relationship of HIV/AIDS and food security in a 2004 research report, which is one of the few pieces of literature that attempts to look at the relationship between the two topics. In their report, two questions are posed about the food security and it's impact on HIV/AIDS.

1. How additional food insecurity related to HIV/AIDS interacts with all of the other factors that contribute to food insecurity?
2. How HIV/AIDS contributes to the mechanisms by which chronic poverty tips over into acute emergency need?

The report states that HIV/AIDS does not appear to have ever led to a famine, but that it does affect food security on many levels. People infected with HIV must pay closer attention to their nutritional intake, which is virtually impossible in food insecure times. Coping mechanisms are also much more difficult to find because of the support needed to go adjust to having such a physically and mentally tiring disease. Overall health is affected as well as people with AIDS are more likely to contract secondary infections due to their lessened immune systems, and in emergency settings, secondary infections are often prolific. This could also increase mortality and transmission of the disease.

I think that this piece of literature is important to address because of the presence of HIV that does exist in food insecure settings/emergencies. I think someone in our class said that they were interested in HIV/AIDS in complex emergencies on the first day of class. In that situation, it would be very important to maintain health of the entire population, not only to be sure that people with HIV remained in good health, but to also make sure that they did not spread the disease.

Famine Crimes does not talk about HIV/AIDS at all, but it does talk about nutrition at one point. Nutrition is a very important part of HIV/AIDS in maintaining health of and quotes nutritionists saying that famine has been made a business due to anthropometric measures, where "high rates of malnutrition equal famine equal food distribution." (page 71) The nutritionists are disgusted that it has become so formulated and think that more actions should be taken early on to prevent the bureaucratic actions of famine and malnutrition.

*Humanitarian Policy Group
HPG Research Report 16
Paul Harvey
April 2004