Global Recession: A Death Sentence in Africa
AIDS Deaths to Rise as Food Shortages Hit Kenya
January 29, 2009. AMREF would like to urge world leaders not to forget about the devastating impact the financial crisis in having on people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa when meeting in Davos Switzerland for the annual Economic Forum this week.
“No matter how severe, the global recession will affect Africa in ways the
rest of the world can only imagine," said AMREF Director General Dr. Michael Smalley.
“No matter how severe, the global recession will affect Africa in ways the
One of the most severe effects is food shortages.
Food prices in Kenya have risen nearly fivefold over the past 12 months and the situation is only getting worse.
Following one of the toughest droughts in the region, food shortages have spread across East Africa, affecting communities in Ethiopia, Uganda, and the economic stronghold of Kenya.
Food is even short in the African Rift Valley – the traditional breadbasket in the region.
One in every three people in Kenya is expected to experience dire shortages of food. On January 16th, the Kenyan government appealed for US$500 million of emergency aid to avoid mass starvation.
People living with HIV/AIDS will be the first to feel the pain.
Adequate nutrition is vital to the effectiveness of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) – the medication used to keep people living with HIV/AIDS alive.
When people taking these drugs don’t have a healthy diet they become even more sick. Patients know this and suddenly stop taking the ARVs, which is also dangerous and can cause death.
“The huge HIV problem and lack of adequate formal health care are a death sentence when coupled with food scarcity and economic hardships,” says Dr. Smalley.
AMREF is providing food relief to people in remote communities in rural Kenya and in the neglected slums of the capital city, Nairobi. But AMREF cannot meet the overwhelming needs without support from the international community.
For more information please contact:
Salima Pirani
Communications Manager
spirani@amrefcanada.org
AMREF Canada
(416) 961-6981
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