Zambian victim outlines the AIDS trauma
Friday, 24 November 2006
The personal and family trauma of living with AIDS will be outlined by a victim from Zambia, at a special Concern conference in Dublin on Wednesday, 29 November.
Francis Kufekisa Mwangala, who lost his wife to HIV/AIDS, was diagnosed as HIV positive in 2004.
Francis, who is now on treatment and back working in a local radio station, will talk about the devastation of the AIDS epidemic in Zambia where over 2 million people, or 20% of the entire population, are HIV positive. The annual death rate from AIDS is 100,000.
He will also describe the impact of hunger and malnutrition on the AIDS problem. In Zambia, two out of every three people live on less than one dollar a day.
The conference on "Hunger in Southern Africa" will feature innovative programmes being run by Concern aimed at easing the hunger crisis in some of the world's most vulnerable countries.
Announcing details, Tom Arnold, Chief Executive of Concern, said:
"Southern Africa is one of the poorest regions in the world, affected by the triple threat of food insecurity, weak governance and HIV/AIDS.
Combined with climate change, weakened soil fertility, low levels of education and poor health services, the challenges are formidable."
The conference will also hear about the impact of an innovative "food and cash transfer" project operated by Concern during the latest food emergency in Malawi, when around 5 million people, or 50% of the population, were affected.
Other highlights include a report on efforts by small-farm organisations to improve farming methods and increase productivity in the fight to ease the hunger crisis.
