Malawi drops HIV cash hand-outs
13 October 2008
Malawian civil servants with HIV, who used to receive an extra $35 a month to help them buy more food, are now to get a food handout instead.
“The money may not be spent on what you intended it for,” Mary Shawa from the president’s office told the BBC.
The new policy is part of a government review into its HIV policy and how best to fund it.
Malawi is among the countries worst affected by Aids, with about 7% of the 13m population affected.
The BBC’s Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says the government is the country’s largest employer with about 120,000 civil servants.
Dr Shawa, responsible for HIV and nutrition in the president’s office, said about 38,000 HIV mainly government employees will receive the food instead of the extra money in their pay packet.
“The recommendation is to give them cooking oil, some eggs as support,” she said.
HIV-positive employees will also be educated about the virus and get advice about safe sex.
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Read full article at BBC News
October 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Given the nature of the diet in Malawi the Government needs to take heed of the emerging evidence that aflatoxin which exacerbates HIV at the immune-cell level is a very likely factor in their epidemic. If they are providing food rather than money then this provides a great opportunity to protect the the HIV infected and their discordant family members using the food additives known to protect against aflatoxin exposure. This should provide protection against other immune and nutrition dependent risks to health.