User:ElyseWright/sandbox

One of the main reasons why climate change appears to have such an impact on HIV/AIDS seems to be related to food shortage. “In the fight against hunger we could now be facing a perfect storm of challenges, including climate change and increasingly severe droughts and floods, soaring food prices and the tightest supplies in recent history, declining levels of food aid, and HIV/AIDS, which also aggravates food insecurity” says Sheeran. The lack of food security, due to climate change, in South Africa has been affected by HIV/AIDS. In Sub-Saharan Africa over 70% of the population are farmers and human capital has decreased due to HIV/AIDS. “This reduction in the household labour capabilities severely decreases agricultural output. The source of nourishment and income for the bulk of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population, agricultural output, is further hurt by a loss in the transfer of intergenerational knowledge, as the productive adult population with experience in agricultural labour is the most severely affected by AIDS”. Malnutrition, brought about by food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbates the effects of HIV/AIDS. This has the potential to create more HIV deaths each year, as immune capabilities are further weakened by malnutrition. Secondly the spread of Malaria due to climate change will also be degrading to the Burden of Disease of HIV/AIDS. As people become infected by HIV/AIDS and are then exposed to Malaria, it will create an even more substantial loss of life because AIDS victims will be less likely to be able to fight the Malaria infection. Climate change also may increase the spread of HIV/AIDS. As climate change disasters sweep the globe, more people will become displaced, and be forced to live in close quarters to one another. There is evidence to suggest that this could “aggravate gender inequalities” that have the potential to raise the possibility of transmission of the disease. Lastly Climate Change will reduce the funds available to mitigate HIV/AIDS. As more money is spent on repairing infrastructure due the increasing nature of extreme weather, less money will be available for programs to prevent HIV/AIDS and to look after those that are already infected. This is especially true in underdeveloped countries where they are least able to cope. The twin effects of HIV/AIDS and Climate Change therefore will be degrading to human health.