BRUSSELS (AlertNet) - A "hideous cycle" of food shortages, poverty and HIV/AIDS in Zambia has left about one million children orphaned and a growing class of people destitute, aid agencies say.
"The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Zambia deserves to be treated as an emergency which has and will continue to have impact on poverty and food security levels," Lena Savelli, information officer for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in Zambia, told AlertNet.
The WFP is conducting a recovery operation to rebuild assets and create livelihoods for people who have been beset by natural disasters, poverty and HIV/AIDS, and thus have little or no capacity to withstand the current food crisis engulfing Southern Africa.
Zambia is one of the world's poorest countries, with 86 percent of its 10.3 million people living below the poverty line, and a life expectancy of 42 years, according to UNICEF.
"This drought is not just about food shortage," said Lucy Macmillan, projects officer for UNICEF Australia. "It's really about the drought mixed in with the impact of HIV/AIDS.
"Because of the food shortage, there is an increasing number of people dying from AIDS-related diseases and common diseases. It is a hideous cycle."
With a 22 percent adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS, many families have lost a productive member of their household.
"When you lose primary providers, the people who are left are the women and the children, who are generally less educated, more vulnerable and more prone to be abused and exploited," Macmillan said.
Estimates of the number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS vary. Zambia's government puts the figure at 500,000, while UNICEF says 1.8 million children have lost at least one parent to the disease.
"Zambia has one of the largest populations of orphans in the world and that is directly due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic," CARE Zambia Director Brenda Cupper said.
"I'm not sure anyone knows the exact number of orphans -- any consensus wouldn't capture the exact number because the epidemic is moving so quickly.
"The HIV/ AIDS epidemic is so huge, overwhelming and fast-spreading -- and funding has been woefully inadequate and sporadic -- that it hasn't been possible to conduct the research on the ground which is necessary."
The WFP is currently providing food for over 200,000 orphans and vulnerable children through community schools, drop-in centres and rehabilitation centres in the Lusaka, Kafue and Chongwe districts under an "Urban Intervention" operation with Project Concern International.
Fifty percent of Zambian children are stunted due to chronic malnourishment, according to Cupper.
The WFP wants to scale up its assistance to orphans and vulnerable children in other urban areas, in particular in the Copperbelt Province and Livingstone.
Orphans and vulnerable children are in a precarious position because they are unable to provide for themselves and are thus in need of food aid, education and health care.
UNICEF programmes include water, sanitation and hygiene education in schools, and improving education levels for girls.
"The education and thus the future of these children is at risk since one coping mechanisms for families in crises is to withdraw children from school, usually starting with orphans and girls," Savelli said.
Agencies fear food shortages will further increase the vulnerability of children to HIV/AIDS.
"The likelihood of Zambia's children and orphans resorting to transactional sex is increasing, and this is obviously very dangerous," Cupper said.
In addition to an increasing number of street children and child-headed households, Zambia has a growing class of destitute people. CARE estimates that about 10 percent of the population now falls into this category.
Extended family networks have traditionally cared for Zambia's destitute, but families' capacity to continue to do so has been eroded by years of economic deterioration, Cupper said.
People ran down their assets and reserves during previous food crises, and now have no resilience or coping mechanisms against shortfalls in production or lack of rain. Regional and global trade tariffs and agricultural subsidies, plus a crippling debt burden, are further exacerbating the situation, she said.
"In many ways Zambia is over the edge It is a very poor country and it is a bit forgotten," Cupper said.
"The last food crisis and the ones before it were the result of long-term and chronic food security problems, coupled with a drought and acute production shortfall. The problem is we cannot get enough funding and support for a consistent and long-term response to a chronic situation."
For its operation in Zambia 2003/04, the WFP estimated that 480,000 vulnerable people would be in need of food assistance, at a cost of $25 million.
The WFP's appeal for 14,200 tonnes of food worth $9.8 million in July 2003 has not yet been met. Savelli said unless new cash donations were confirmed urgently, the WFP could face a pipeline break in February/March.
Savelli said the WFP had seen no signs that donors were backing away from Zambia following criticism of some of Britain's top relief organisations in a recent evaluation of their efforts to prevent a southern African food crisis in 2002/03.
The evaluation by consultants Valid International said some agencies had exaggerated the scale of the crisis.
"Donors remain committed to Zambia and can be assured that WFP will continue to work closely with them to keep them properly updated on the food security situation," she said.
