The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday that as many as three million people are suffering due to acute food shortage in Southern Africa. WFP executive director James Morris said that despite having good harvest in recent years, there was a distribution problem.
"Good harvests do not necessarily mean people have enough to eat," he said. "Food and good nutrition are crucial in battling against HIV/Aids but it is very tough to convince the international community of the complexity and depth of the pandemic in this region, especially when people's misery is masked by green fields and good harvests."
He added that most people in the region had to be at the mercy of donors simply because they could not afford to buy food at market prices. "Orphans and other vulnerable children are a particular concern for WFP as most governments can't cope with the overwhelming number of people who need help," Morris said.
To compound this problem, Southern Africa had nine of the ten highest HIV/Aids prevalence rates in the world. Six million people are estimated to be infected in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.