Living with HIV in Zimbabwe

Kindman, a 27-year-old Zimbabwe Red Cross volunteer, is well named.

He gently carries two small children into the immaculately kept thatched hut and places them on the floor. They are very sick. Their thin, listless bodies barely have the strength to hold them upright and they have no energy to walk, far less play, like healthy children. Helger, who is two and a half, and Lawrence who is four sit quietly, seemingly unaware of what’s going on around them.

Lawrence has open sores on his arms and legs. Kindman tells us that he used to talk, but is now mute. Both children have Aids.

Their mother died of Aids at the end of last year and their father is HIV positive. Their uncle, their uncle’s wife and their tiny 18-month-old baby cousin Bridget are all thought to be HIV positive but haven’t been tested. Only their 54-year-old grandmother, Agnes, is fit enough to look for work and to feed and care for her sons and malnourished grandchildren. Her husband died two years ago.

We visited them at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. No one in the family had eaten that day and their last meal was a small helping of porridge the night before - begged from neighbours. After three years of drought, the field that used to provide them with maize and vegetables is now bare.

The family has just joined the Zimbabwe Red Cross home based care programme (HBCP) and Red Cross volunteers are visiting. Kindman said: "We want to make sure that the grandmother doesn’t catch the virus so we will be giving her advice on how to prevent the spread of infection when she is caring for her family.” He added: "At the moment, we tell them they need to eat nutritious food but know that they cannot afford to."

A lack of food is weakening the immune systems of those affected by HIV like Helger and Lawrence. As prices in the markets rocket, greater amounts of household income have to be spent on food at the expense of medicine.