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AIDS misery in Zimbabwe mirrors Africa's plight
By Cris Chinaka
NYIKA, Zimbabwe, June 22 (Reuters) - While the world's political elite meets
in New York this month to plan the war against the AIDS epidemic, the people
of Nyika village in Zimbabwe will be burying more of their dead.
Nyika epitomises the total devastation and human misery brought on by
HIV-AIDS affecting a staggering 25 million people across Africa, the
epicentre of the global AIDS catastrophe.
Even if the U.N. General Assembly agrees a battle-plan at its first AIDS
summit meeting starting on June 25, it will be too late for most of the
people in Nyika.
Agnes Moyondizvo, a 72-year-old grandmother, cannot remember the last time a
week passed in this southern African village without a funeral or a death
because of AIDS.
"Sometimes I have this feeling that God has abandoned us, and that this is
the way we are all going to perish...At the rate at which this disease is
killing us, I don't think there will be any survivors here in two years'
time," Moyondizvo said.
She has already buried two of her own eight children and three grandchildren
in the past three years. In the five days before she spoke to this
correspondent, five more people died in her tiny village of 40 families, all
of them linked to HIV-AIDS.
"We still mourn our beloved but very few people shed any tears. Maybe it's
because people have cried so much that they don't have tears anymore," she
said.
The village cemetery is marked with fresh graves. Loved ones lie beneath
freshly dug mounds of earth at family homesteads.
Nyika, some 350 km (220 miles) southeast of the capital Harare, has become
home to scores of AIDS orphans and many of the village's small farm plots are
lying idle because of a lack of healthy adult workers.
More and more villagers are queuing for meagre and scarce aid from the
cash-strapped government, according to Moyondizvo.
U.N. TO TACKLE AFRICAN MISERY
The misery in Nyika is repeated through Zimbabwe and the entire African
continent where the vast majority of sufferers cannot get access to proper
drugs or adequate health facilities to help treat their condition.
The United Nations meeting aims to lay the basis for a broad multi-billion
dollar strategy to tackle AIDS worldwide.
A plan to rescue Africa from its AIDS crisis is vital to get drugs to where
they are desperately needed and to build a health infrastructure able to deal
with this unprecedented calamity.
Africa is home to more than 25 million people living with HIV-AIDS. Only a
tiny minority can afford drugs which prolong life or which treat diseases
linked to AIDS.
Most are condemned to die in abject conditions, many ostracised by their own
communities.
Four of the five countries most hurt by AIDS are in Africa, led by South
Africa which has more AIDS sufferers than anywhere else, followed by Nigeria,
Kenya and Ethiopia, according to U.N. estimates.
In five African countries -- Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe -- at least one in five adults are HIV-positive.
In the hardest hit, Botswana, people are dying at an average of 23 years
earlier than they would be without AIDS.
Health officials say Zimbabwe has one of the world's highest rates of AIDS
cases, with more than a quarter of its 14 million people estimated to be
infected with the HIV virus.
AIDS is killing at least 2,000 people a week, and experts predict Zimbabwe
could become the first country in the world to record zero percent population
growth next year.
The United Nations children's fund Unicef projects that Zimbabwe's average
life expectancy would drop to 27 years within the next decade from a current
44 years and 62 years in 1990.
22:06 06-21-01
Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
By Cris Chinaka
NYIKA, Zimbabwe, June 22 (Reuters) - While the world's political elite meets
in New York this month to plan the war against the AIDS epidemic, the people
of Nyika village in Zimbabwe will be burying more of their dead.
Nyika epitomises the total devastation and human misery brought on by
HIV-AIDS affecting a staggering 25 million people across Africa, the
epicentre of the global AIDS catastrophe.
Even if the U.N. General Assembly agrees a battle-plan at its first AIDS
summit meeting starting on June 25, it will be too late for most of the
people in Nyika.
Agnes Moyondizvo, a 72-year-old grandmother, cannot remember the last time a
week passed in this southern African village without a funeral or a death
because of AIDS.
"Sometimes I have this feeling that God has abandoned us, and that this is
the way we are all going to perish...At the rate at which this disease is
killing us, I don't think there will be any survivors here in two years'
time," Moyondizvo said.
She has already buried two of her own eight children and three grandchildren
in the past three years. In the five days before she spoke to this
correspondent, five more people died in her tiny village of 40 families, all
of them linked to HIV-AIDS.
"We still mourn our beloved but very few people shed any tears. Maybe it's
because people have cried so much that they don't have tears anymore," she
said.
The village cemetery is marked with fresh graves. Loved ones lie beneath
freshly dug mounds of earth at family homesteads.
Nyika, some 350 km (220 miles) southeast of the capital Harare, has become
home to scores of AIDS orphans and many of the village's small farm plots are
lying idle because of a lack of healthy adult workers.
More and more villagers are queuing for meagre and scarce aid from the
cash-strapped government, according to Moyondizvo.
U.N. TO TACKLE AFRICAN MISERY
The misery in Nyika is repeated through Zimbabwe and the entire African
continent where the vast majority of sufferers cannot get access to proper
drugs or adequate health facilities to help treat their condition.
The United Nations meeting aims to lay the basis for a broad multi-billion
dollar strategy to tackle AIDS worldwide.
A plan to rescue Africa from its AIDS crisis is vital to get drugs to where
they are desperately needed and to build a health infrastructure able to deal
with this unprecedented calamity.
Africa is home to more than 25 million people living with HIV-AIDS. Only a
tiny minority can afford drugs which prolong life or which treat diseases
linked to AIDS.
Most are condemned to die in abject conditions, many ostracised by their own
communities.
Four of the five countries most hurt by AIDS are in Africa, led by South
Africa which has more AIDS sufferers than anywhere else, followed by Nigeria,
Kenya and Ethiopia, according to U.N. estimates.
In five African countries -- Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe -- at least one in five adults are HIV-positive.
In the hardest hit, Botswana, people are dying at an average of 23 years
earlier than they would be without AIDS.
Health officials say Zimbabwe has one of the world's highest rates of AIDS
cases, with more than a quarter of its 14 million people estimated to be
infected with the HIV virus.
AIDS is killing at least 2,000 people a week, and experts predict Zimbabwe
could become the first country in the world to record zero percent population
growth next year.
The United Nations children's fund Unicef projects that Zimbabwe's average
life expectancy would drop to 27 years within the next decade from a current
44 years and 62 years in 1990.
22:06 06-21-01
Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
