Africa: Benefits of Nutrition Neglected In the Fight Against AIDS

At monthly support groups for children infected with the virus that causes AIDS in the hills of northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Ann Barnard doles out creams and antibiotics for simple HIV-related infections. But one of the most important bottles in her arsenal is not a drug, but a basic multivitamin, which she encourages caretakers to give daily to each infected child. Although anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) are becoming increasingly available across the African continent, they remain out of reach for most HIV-positive people. Only a handful of the children in the Ingwavuma Orphan Care's support group are enrolled in pre-counselling for the fledgling anti-retroviral programme at the local government hospital, Mosvold, which began offering the drugs to a limited number of patients late last year.