[pronut-hiv] Zimbabwe: HIV/Aids - Good Nutrition Essential - Part 2

["ProNut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

If you were still managing the three meals for the day, brace yourself
for soon you might just be managing one.
Peanut butter (a small bottle) is selling for as much as $30 million
while sugar beans (again a small packet) can cost as much as $25
million. Butternuts, tsunga and other vegetable varieties, tomatoes,
onions, cabbages, peppers, brajels, lettuce, cucumbers - all of which
are good sources of vitamins are not something that the ordinary man on
the street even looks at.
Rich sources of protein such as fish, chicken and pork have virtually
disappeared from many homes' meal calendars.
They are for the elite; the few who can afford to choose what to put in
their stomachs.
The rest just make do.
A family member who is living with HIV confided recently that there
were some nights he just goes to sleep on an empty stomach. If lucky, he
would have some bread and juice.
Being unmarried, even if he has a little money to buy real food, he
just does not bother because food needs to be cooked well in order for
it to be of real benefit.
"If I haven't had any electrical power for the last three months, how
am I supposed to cook, at least those with wives get a warm meal even if
its junk," the Highfield-based man lamented.
Taking ARVs or any medicinal drugs on an empty stomach must surely have
some consequences.
Medical practitioner and president of the Zimbabwe Medical Association
Dr Paul Chimedza says such instances are becoming more and more common.
While people living with HIV and Aids have all along been encouraged to
eat traditional and unprocessed foods which were cheap and easily
accessible, to get sadza rezviyo today, or even roundnuts or potatoes
has become a nightmare.
I see myself failing to buy some of these a lot and cannot help but
wonder- what about those who have it worse than I am, what are their
options?
If it is in your power today to make things better for the masses, to
make food the essential part of life that it is, to make the lives of
people living with HIV and Aids longer and more comfortable and to make
life just be bearable, ask yourself the same question and hopefully come
up with answers and solutions.