The scale, the underlying factors and the far-reaching effects of the AIDS epidemic call for multi-sectoral collaboration between government, NGOs and the private sector and across government departments, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, the Gender and Development Division and the World Bank supported Community Response to AIDS Project, amongst others. Rural households that are affected by HIV/AIDS do not depend only agriculture and would require a wide range of complimentary services across sectors, that ideally should encompass all aspects of prevention, care and mitigation. This, however, does not mean that the agricultural sector should mainstream sexual behaviour issues in its programmes to rural households or provide home-based care services as they do not have the mandate or technical expertise to do so. It rather requires the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to work closely with rural health centres, community health workers and existing home-based care programmes.
