Red Cross: Natural Disasters Increase Spread of AIDS “Disaster”

The Red Cross recently released its 2008 Disasters Report, which states that about 25 million people have died from AIDS since 1981 and about 33 million people are currently HIV positive. The report also asserts that “the epidemic is undoubtedly a disaster.”

The organization has called the epidemic a “disaster” not only to draw media attention, but also to emphasize a “complex link” between natural disasters and the spread of HIV. According to chapter 6 of the report, natural disasters destroy crops, raise food prices, and contaminate drinking water, lowering the overall health of a population and creating conditions that can weaken the ability of individuals to combat the virus. Severe weather can also destroy roads, which leaves people unable to reach medical facilities and leaves medical facilities desperate for supplies.

The report reminds readers that 2007 was a “particularly bad year” for floods, forest fires, and other natural disasters. “Africa saw no less than 23 countries affected by some of the biggest floods in decades. In Asia, tens of millions were affected by floods in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.”

In response to these and other natural disasters, the United Nations issued 15 “Flash Appeals” in 2007. Flash Appeals help coordinate the response to and funding for the multiple agencies that respond to humanitarian crises. Of these 15 Flash Appeals, nine were issued for countries with a “generalized HIV epidemic,” meaning that over 1 percent of the adult population is HIV positive. The report cites this as evidence that due to natural disasters, “hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV would have been affected in one or more ways, and general populations exposed to increased risk of infection.”

The report raises increased concern about climate change, stating that because natural disasters can so severely impact the health of entire communities, climate change “may result in an increasingly harsh environment for some already vulnerable populations… An increase in climatic disasters would increase both the numbers of individuals suffering these impacts each year and their severity.”

In the conclusion, Sálvano Briceño, Director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, argues that, “[d]isaster risk reduction is not an option, it is an urgent priority.” The report urges that HIV prevention programs mirror and complement disaster response programs:

Overall, the best approaches to HIV in the context of natural disasters is consistent with guidelines for all forms of disaster [sic]. Better emergency responses must be planned which take into account the specific epidemiological situation in the disaster area, strengthening existing institutions’ ability to withstand the disaster event and restore much needed health services as quickly as possible. At the same time, the development-related aspects of HIV responses must be taken into account, particularly in areas of chronic risk, addressing the epidemic’s contribution to weakening societies and economies and to undermining their ability to respond to disasters.

Tags: public health

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