information on HIV pandemic and its spread to rural areas

[Guest guest]

Formerly believed to be mainly an urban phenomenon, HIV/AIDS now threatens the

lives and livelihoods of millions of rural dwellers throughout the developing

world. " Rural HIV often remains silent and invisible " because of poor health

infrastructure, restricted access to health facilities and inadequate

surveillance, according to the report.

Africa, with its predominantly rural population, remains the global epicenter of

the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with 83 percent of all deaths to date and 9 out of 10 new

infections. In nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa, adult HIV/AIDS prevalence

rates exceed 10 percent and in Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe in

Southern Africa, between 20 percent and 26 percent of the population aged 15 to

49 is living with HIV or AIDS.

However, India - with four million people affected by HIV/AIDS - is the single

country with the largest number of infected people. There, where 73 percent of

the population is rural, recent studies have shown that HIV is spreading faster

in some rural areas than in urban ones.

And in Latin America and the Caribbean, several Caribbean countries have among

the highest incidence of the disease in the world, although the spread of the

epidemic in Latin America has been slower than in other regions.

Besides the human suffering, HIV/AIDS threatens sustainable agriculture and

rural development. At the household level this ranslates into loss of adult farm

labor, as adults fall sick and die, resulting in a decline in productivity, loss

of assets and income, increase in household expenditures to meet medical bills

and funeral expenses, and a rise in the number of dependents relying on a

smaller number of productive family members.

HIV/AIDS incidence also results in the forced disposal of productive assets, the

loss of indigenous farming methods, and may require a switch to less

labor-intensive crop production - often leading in turn to declining levels of

nutrition.

In Zimbabwe for example, agricultural output of small farmers could have been

slashed in the past five years by as much as 50 percent, mainly because of the

effect of HIV/AIDS. Sickness and death of an adult family member can result in

the inability of a household to cultivate the land. In addition, AIDS widows may

not have legal rights to land and property after their husbands' death. Many

women must leave their homes and face severe poverty, the report says.

Two types of rural areas are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS - those

situated along truck routes and those that are sources of migrant labor to urban

areas. The spread of HIV/AIDS along trade routes is well-established, whereas

traditional subsistence regions have been perceived to be less vulnerable to

HIV/AIDS. However, the fact that many subsistence agricultural regions are also

sources of migrant labor in the agricultural lean season may make them similarly

vulnerable.

Many people infected with HIV/AIDS return to their villages when they become

ill, the report notes. Rural families then provide most of the care for HIV/AIDS

patients and bear the costs for food, medicine and funeral expenses.

Poverty makes people increasingly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS by increasing migrant

labor, family breakup, landlessness, overcrowding and homelessness. In the

absence of traditional family and social ties, people are more likely to engage

in risky sexual behavior. The poor are also less likely to take seriously an

infection that is fatal in years to come, if they are struggling with daily

survival. The incubation period of HIV/AIDS is likely to be shortened by poor

standards of nutrition and repeated infections, while access to medical care is

lowest among the poor.

Poverty also makes HIV/AIDS education difficult, as there are high levels of

illiteracy and little access to mass media, health and education services,

particularly in rural areas. Poor women are especially vulnerable as they are

not likely to be able to protect themselves from infected husbands. They tend to

be ill informed on health matters and have little power to control any aspect of

sexual relations.

According to a report by UNAIDS which concludes that governments should make

agricultural and rural development decisions with the consequences of HIV/AIDS

in mind. Ministries that deal with agriculture should be sensitized about

HIV/AIDS education and advocacy. Households affected by the pandemic should have

better access to and control over resources such as extension, credit and land.

Vijay Rai

E-mail: <vijayrai@...>

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