IN THIS FOCUS: HIV/AIDS facts Global estimates Focus Gwanda The effects of HIV/AIDS on agriculture: A to Z HIV/AIDS and the village of Gwanda Case-studies Women and HIV/AIDS The role of rural women Women help each other Case-studies Strategies for action Interview with Jacques duGuerney Strategies West Africa New study on HIV/AIDS in West Africa SECTION START		THE IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS ON AGRICULTURE: HIV/AIDS FACTS HIV/AIDS: a definition No member of the family is immune to the effects of HIV/AIDS Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the name of the fatal clinical condition that results from infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which progressively damages the body's ability to protect itself from disease organisms. Thus, many AIDS deaths result from pneumonia, tuberculosis or diarrhoea; death is not caused by HIV itself but by one or more of these infections. HIV-1 and HIV-2 are two similar viruses, both of which gradually erode the body's immune system. HIV-1 is found throughout the world; it has higher infection rates, currently doubling in about 5.7 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, in the year 2000, 30 million to 40 million people will be infected with HIV-1, half of whom will be in sub-Saharan Africa. The incidence of mother-infant transmission is 10 to 30 percent and many infants develop symptoms after four months. HIV-2 is found primarily, although not exclusively, in West Africa and has a doubling rate of 31 years; it is rarely passed on from mother to infant. Aids -- the price of an epidemic The State of Food and Agriculture The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) AIDS was first recognized in 1981 among homosexual men in the United States of America. HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- was identified in 1983 It is estimated that by 1 December 1996, more than 8.4 million AIDS cases had occurred since the start of the global AIDS epidemic UNAIDS estimates that there have been over 3.1 million new HIV infections in 1996, about 8 500 a day -- 7 500 in adults and 1 000 in women

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