from Right to Food, 28-05-2009

  FAO's new publication on "Right to Food and HIV-AIDS"

"The Right to Food and HIV/AIDS"

FAO’s Right to Food Unit is pleased to announce the publication of the Study on the Right to food in the context of HIV/AIDS by Arne Vandenbogaerde. As latest UN reports indicate little progress in the struggle against the epidemic, this paper aims to clarify the relevance of the right to food in combating HIV/AIDS.

While the United Nations 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS states that the full realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all is an essential element in a global response to the epidemic, the awareness of the need for a human rights-based approach to achieve genuine and positive results in combating HIV/AIDS is now growing stronger. Both, the evidence of the link between food security and HIV/AIDS and the call for integrating adequate food into a comprehensive response have already been stressed.

Through different steps, starting from a presentation of the right to food, this study underlines the need for supporting the implementation of the right to food into prevention and treatment programs so that the vicious circle of food insecurity and HIV/AIDS spread can finally be broken.

http://www.fao.org/righttofood/publi09/hiv_aids.pdf