Addressing the HIV/AIDS–food insecurity syndemic in sub-Saharan Africa

  • David A Himmelgreen
  • Nancy Romero-Daza
  • David Turkon
  • Sharon Watson
  • Ipolto Okello-Uma
  • Daniel Sellen

Abstract

Recently a few vocal health experts have suggested that some of the billions of dollars currently used to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS be reallocated to address more basic problems such as malnutrition, tuberculosis, malaria, and enteric and diarrheal disease caused by lack  of access to clean water. While not universally agreed upon, this reassessment of policy priorities acknowledges that there are multiple other health problems that deserve renewed attention from the international community. It also highlights the fact that the impacts of the HIV pandemic are exacerbated by widespread poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, and gender inequality. Nowhere is this more evident than in sub-Saharan Africa, where multiple epidemics conflate and seriously compromise the survival of individuals and communities. Given the widespread occurrence of famine in sub-Saharan Africa, issues of food and economic security become of paramount importance in efforts to address the region’s HIV epidemics. This paper examines the historical, political-economic, and cultural dimensions of the HIV epidemic in the context of the growing problem of food and economic insecurity. Furthermore, using theoretical frameworks that emphasize the dynamic interrelation between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity, we present suggestions for combining traditional HIV-prevention strategies with food production and nutritioneducation programming. In light of the complex  interactions between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity and the lack of accessible treatment modalities, such programming could potentially reduce the risk for transmission of HIV through behavioural changes and improved nutritional and immune status, and increase the life expectancy of people living with HIV or AIDS.

Keywords: history; interventions; Lesotho; resource-poor settings; sub-Saharan Africa; sustainable agriculture

African Journal of AIDS Research 2009, 8(4): 401–412

Author Biographies

David A Himmelgreen
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SOC 107, Tampa, Florida 33647, United States
Nancy Romero-Daza
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SOC 107, Tampa, Florida 33647, United States
David Turkon
Department of Anthropology, Ithaca College, G102 Gannett Center, Ithaca, New York 14850, United States
Sharon Watson
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SOC 107, Tampa, Florida 33647, United States
Ipolto Okello-Uma
Department of Animal Science, National University of Lesotho, PO Box 180, Roma, Lesotho
Daniel Sellen
Departments of Anthropology and Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada
Section
Articles

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1608-5906
print ISSN: 1727-9445