More than 500 people are dying of Aids-related illnesses in Zimbabwe daily, according to the latest projections endorsed by the United Nations Aids programme, UNAids.
Judith Lewis, the Southern African head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said while it has managed to stem “massive” starvation in Zimbabwe and the rest of Southern Africa, the challenge the aid agency faces now is to keep the people affected with HIV/Aids alive.
She said the latest UNAids projections indicate that 3 800 people are dying from Aids-related illnesses every week in Zimbabwe.
Lewis spoke to the Mail & Guardian on the eve of a meeting in Johannesburg of major players seeking to fight the regional humanitarian crisis that erupted last year. It was hosted by the UN and the Southern African Development Community.
The final results of the Food and Agricultural Organisation and WFP crop and food supply assessments in the six affected countries —Â Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland — indicate that the situation has “stabilised to some extent”, she said.
But she added that millions of people would still need assistance: “Particularly those infected with HIV and the Aids orphans. We are trying to keep mothers alive to raise their children. Those are some of the tough issues we are trying to grapple with. [Another is] health services — many of these areas do not have clean water; immunisation needs to take place.”
She said government ministries were being decimated financially and in terms of human resources.
Lewis said “Zimbabwe’s needs were certainly the most stark” of all the Southern Africa countries.
She said the agencies would have to provide food to at least five million people in the next few months. “And that is a conservative estimate. I think that number is going to go up.
“However the over-arching issue in these countries is the HIV pandemic — that is the overlay for everything.
“The number of people dying in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland is high. Madagascar probably has the lowest, because they have not managed to establish their base line yet. It is going to get worse.”