El Niño + HIV + TB = misery for Africa

 
The El Niño weather phenomenon with its devastating drought is hitting a part of the world that carries the highest burden of HIV - one-third of all people living with HIV worldwide.
Four countries in southern Africa, which have declared a national emergency, have an HIV prevalence of 10 percent and above: Swaziland (27.7 percent), Lesotho (23.4 percent), Zimbabwe (16.7 percent) and Malawi (10 percent). Mozambique, at 10.6 percent, has declared a 90-day institutional red alert for some southern and central areas.
The HIV situation is further compounded by the TB and HIV co-infections with Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia and Mozambique having the highest TB prevalence in the world.
These countries have been prioritised by UNAIDS as fast-track countries where efforts need to be accelerated towards ending the HIV/Aids epidemic by 2030.
By October last year, the world had achieved the Aids treatment target of millennium development goal 6, the most important in the history of the development goals.
In 2000, fewer than 700 000 HIV-positive people were receiving antiretroviral drugs: by the end of last year, about 15 million had access to antiretrovirals and 7.8 million Aids-related deaths had been averted. New HIV infections declined by 35 percent globally.
On June 8, UNAIDS and the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief announced dramatic reductions in new infections among children in the worst-affected African countries. The most notable achievements for the region highlighted by UNAIDS include:
Seven countries have reduced new infections among children by more than 69 percent since 2009 - South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland met the goal of ensuring that 90 percent or more of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral drugs.
Four countries provided antiretroviral drugs to more than 80 percent of pregnant women living with HIV - Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Eight countries have achieved a significant decline in new HIV infections among children from 2009-2015 - Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
But unless urgent steps are taken to ensure that the emergency response is both HIV specific and HIV sensitive, El Niño has the potential to reverse these impressive developmental gains.
There is a lack of data at country level regarding the impact of El Niño on HIV, and thus some of the information here is anecdotal and in the process of being verified.
This edited article is part of a UN World Food Programme paper on the impact of El Niño on people living with HIV/Aids, the importance of food in treatment and the WFP response in southern Africa. The WFP attended the International Aids Conference in Durban this week.