“Our biological father passed away in November 1996. He was sick for a long time and had a lot of sores on this body. Our mother was HIV positive and she died soon after my father in the same year. At first I couldn’t believe that our mother was also dead, but when we were taken to the graveyard, that’s when we believed it. We felt hurt because there was no one left to take care of us. ” Pule Mwansa Mukupa, July 2007, Kitwe, Zambia

Copyright David Gillanders

As Pule’s testimony shows, HIV/AIDS is not only a health issue but also has a profound social and economic impact on families affected by the disease. 'HIV/AIDS has a direct impact on the economic and social well-being of households and communities. As such it needs to be tackled using an integrated approach where food, livelihoods and social protection are highlighted as solutions alongside access to medical care,' says Natalie Duck, Coordinator of Action Against Hunger's Local Voices project.*

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On World Aids Day 2007, Action Against Hunger launched two new publications exploring the social and economic impact that HIV/AIDS has on families affected by the disease.

Local Voices: A Community Perspective on HIV and Hunger in Zambia documents the social and economic impacts HIV has on families affected by the isease

The stories in this report are poignant chronicles of inventive people adapting to a series of household and personal struggles. Yet as much as these stories are an illustration of the hardship the HIV virus has caused, they also show the strength of families that live with HIV/AIDS.

Download the report... 10MB

HIV and Hunger: From Food Crisis to Integrated Care provides technical evidence and a framework for integrating nutrition and HIV care

This report aims to give an overview of programmatic approached which, in a technical field that is constantly evolving with new information, offer a valuable platform from which to learn and take further steps forward.

Download the report... 5MB

As these publications illustrate, developing links between nutrition programmes, HIV treatment and social care is a priority for Action Against Hunger’s work in Southern Africa. For Action Against Hunger, the protection of Human Rights, which includes the right to food, is a key component in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

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*Local Voices is a qualitative research project that provided HIV orphans, vulenrable children and their carers with the ooportunity to discuss and document the difficulties they face providing food, water and healthcare for their families.