Part of a Kampala street that was flooded after a heavy down pour.

Drought exacerbated by the El Nino weather pattern could lead to a spike in new HIV infections in southern Africa as women and girls turn to sex to survive and patients miss treatments, the United Nations children’s’ agency UNICEF said on Tuesday.

More than 60 million people, two thirds of them in east and southern Africa, are facing food shortages because of droughts linked to El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United Nations.

Uganda is among the countries that experience El Nino that in some cases triggers landslides especially in the mountainous regions of Bududa and Bundibugyo districts.

The Report says many patients are refusing to take anti-retroviral therapy (ART) on an empty stomach, others are deciding to spend their limited income on food rather than transport to a health facility, UNICEF said.

“People sometimes are having to resort to these extreme choices between eating and taking life-saving medication,” Patsy Nakell, UNICEF spokeswoman, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“This is the global epicenter of the HIV epidemic and when you have a situation like this where people are struggling to have access to food and to clean water then you know (they) will resort to what we call negative coping mechanisms.”

The situation was especially difficult in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, which have adult HIV prevalence of more than 10 percent, and have been hard hit by El Nino, Nakell said.

“This is like a double whammy in many ways,” she said in a phone interview from Johannesburg.

“When you don’t have anything to begin with, your ability to stretch and be flexible is very limited.”

Nakell said UNICEF had anecdotal evidence of women and children in southern Africa resorting to selling sex to get money for food, which was exacerbating their risk of infection.

She said the agency was concerned the situation in the region might get worse with the arrival of La Nina, a weather pattern linked to floods and droughts, when waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean cool after a phase of El Nino.

The agency has been helping people with access to clean water, vaccinations and HIV awareness program, Nakell said.

UNICEF has secured half of the $200 million needed to fund the response to El Nino, but was struggling to secure the rest, she said.

Weather forecasters in Japan, Australia and the United States predict a 50 percent to 75 percent chance of La Nina developing in the second half of 2016.

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The state minister of energy Simon D’Ujanga says it is the drought that has affected the production of the hydro power generation.

D’ujanga says the country’s current power demand is about 450 mega watts yet the machines at Kiira and Nalubaale can generate only 350 MW leaving a deficit of 100 mw.

Media reports indicated that since 2006 to date, the Government has paid over US$ 470 million in power subsidies yet there has been a persistent the increase in tariffs.

The minister says consumers will continue to experience load shedding because the drought will take about five to six months.

Meanwhile, the managing director of Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, Erias Kiyemba appeals to the public to assist the government and report those who engage in power theft as one of the ways to reduce power loses.

Ultimate Media

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This was at the opening of a two-week session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (<“http://www.unccd.int/main.php“>UNCCD), taking place in Changwon, South Korea. A statement from the UN says representatives of Member States will discuss ways to measure the impact of desertification and mechanisms for assessing and reversing the phenomenon.

According to UNCCD, more than 12 million hectares of productive land are lost to desertification every year, the equivalent of losing an area the size of South Africa every decade.

The loss of productive land is compounded with the need to provide food for the estimated global population of nine billion by 2050, which would require a 70 per cent increase in global food production.

UNCCD stressed that the rapid loss of this natural resource calls for the creation of agreed global scientific measures, and an increase in funding to combat desertification, which is currently limited.

“This convention has now reached a stage where quantifiable medium- and long-term targets should be set, to foster implementation and equip decision makers with adequate tools to effectively monitor the action programmes process,” UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja said.

During the conference’s second week, business leaders from more than 100 companies will participate in a forum to raise awareness about desertification and stimulate investment. The participating companies include Cargill, LG International, Nestle and Unilever. A meeting of government ministers will also take place to discuss critical policy questions.

As part of the conference, UNCCD and the Republic of Korea will propose the Changwon initiative, a series of action plans to foster reforestation efforts in drylands. This is a high priority in Asia as it has more people affected by land degradation and drought than any other continent.

Key messages from the conference, particularly those related to combating desertification to boost green economies, will be shared for inclusion at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in Brazil next June.

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Drought and displacement combined with rising global food prices have left Kenya and Ethiopia in particular facing severe food shortages, with UNOCHA reporting that the regional situation is the worst food security crisis in the world today.

Some parts of the region are experiencing the driest conditions in 60 years, and Christian Aid emergency teams are continuously assessing how best to help local populations.

‘The crisis has been building for some time, especially in Kenya and Ethiopia, and is fast escalating across the region,’ warns Nick Guttmann, Christian Aid’s humanitarian director.

‘People are desperate and if we don’t act now we could be looking at one of the worst humanitarian situations the world has seen in a long time.’

Funds are urgently needed for life saving measures such as:

• Provision of water for villages experiencing the worst of the drought conditions
• Food for families, malnourished children, and pregnant women
• Animal feed to protect livestock that are so crucial to survival.

To make a donation to Christian Aid’s East Africa Food Crisis Appeal call 08080 004 004 or visit www.christianaid.org.uk/east-africa-appeal.

ends

If you would like further information please contact Nick Guttmann on 07775563211or email nguttman@christian-aid.org, or Emma Pomfret on 07554 024539 or email epomfret@christian-aid.org. 24 hour press duty phone – 07850 242950

Notes to Editors

1. Christian Aid works in some of the world’s poorest communities in nearly 50 countries. We act where the need is greatest, regardless of religion, helping people build the lives they deserve.

2. Christian Aid has a vision, an end to global poverty, and we believe that vision can become a reality. Our report, Poverty Over, explains what we believe needs to be done – and can be done – to end poverty.  Details at http://www.christianaid.org.uk/Images/poverty-over-report.pdf

3.  Christian Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of 100 churches and church-related organisations that work together inhumanitarian assistance and development. Further details at http://www.actalliance.org

4. Follow Christian Aid’s newswire on Twitter: http://twitter.com/caid

5. For more information about the work of Christian Aid visit www.christianaid.org.uk

News Release

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