Today is Worlds AIDS Day!

December 1 is World Aids Day, the date set aside by the international community to focus on the pandemic that is threatening the entire planet with extinction if a vaccine and a cure are not found soon. Programmes have been lined up by the Ghana Aids Commission for the observance of the day. Last Saturday a route march by the uniformed services personnel kicked off this year's observance. They marched from El-Wak Stadium through Kawukudi Junction, Nima Highway and other principal streets of Accra. The aim was to sensitise people on the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

Figures being released by the commission and other authorities show the figures of infection rising in Ghana.

Because the disease is passed on through sexual fluids and blood, the use of condoms (safe sex), abstinence from sex, and non-sharing of hypodermic syringes are the cornerstones of the current global fight against the disease. The drugs currently available are beyond the means of most sufferers, especially Africa. Even the so-called generic drugs are still way beyond the means of ordinary folk in many parts of the world. This year's World Aids Day would no doubt highlight these and other concerns, but a simple remedy - food that is, good food which could play a crucial role in holding back the onset and later progress of the disease in an individual - also remains a major problem in many parts of the world, but especially on our continent of Africa. Stuart Gillespie Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute says nutrition is critical in our fight against AIDS. His article below was released over the weekend.

Two issues are often overlooked in the current public discourse on AIDS.

First, the worst of the epidemic is yet to come. Second, food and nutrition are critical to combating AIDS.

Everyone knows that the AIDS pandemic has a long arch. But what is less appreciated is that it occurs in four distinct waves. The first is HIV infection, followed by a second wave of opportunistic infections such as TB.

Several years later comes the third wave of full-blown AIDS, with staggering rates of illness and death. The last wave consists of devastation of families, communities, and even nations, as the cumulative impact of individual AIDS cases affects everyone.

Only a few countries have passed the peak of the first two waves. No nation has yet reached the crest of the third wave, and the fourth is just beginning for the majority of affected countries. This final wave will engulf nations throughout the world for decades.

To be effective in combating AIDS, there must be a sustained international response based on four foundation stones - prevention, care, treatment and mitigation. Food and nutrition play a critical role in all four.

Prevention: Nutritional status is a major factor affecting a person's risk of infection, including mother-to-child transmission.

Care: HIV-positive individuals who are well nourished live longer.

Treatment: AIDS drugs - assuming they are available, accessible and affordable - need to be taken on a full stomach.

Mitigation: Families and communities who have lost their breadwinners need assistance to prevent massive increases in malnutrition due to poverty.

People affected by HIV/AIDS in developing nations often identify food as their top priority, even placing it above access to medication. Let us not forget this.