HIV / AIDS and Smallstock Development

The rising epidemic of HIV/AIDS has particular relevance to smallstock production and women’s role in it. HIV/AIDS is likely to result in increased numbers of female-headed households (as well as child-headed households). It also results in an increase in women's labour as they take on more productive roles as well as caring for the dying and for children. Smallstock may have a special role as a productive resource that can be tended in or near the homestead by both women and children. HIV/AIDS also needs to be seen in conjunction with the risks fro other diseases. Research shows that poverty increases vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The illnesses and treatment costs associated with them in turn lead to further impoverishment (Bates et al., 2004).

What is HIV/AIDS? Impact HIV/AIDS and the role of Smallstock References and Further Reading

HIV causes AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease that destroys a person’s immune system. There are no clear symptoms of HIV infection but an infected person can pass on the virus to others. The main sources of infection are through:

• Unprotected sex with an infected person
• Contact with contaminated blood or other bodily fluids
• Mother to child transmission (during pregnancy, at delivery or during breast-feeding).

AIDS is the final stage of the infection. As HIV damages the immune system, it weakens the body’s ability to fight off diseases and infections. An infected person suffers from a combination of illnesses which eventually results in their death. AIDS symptoms typically include rapid weight loss, dry cough, long-lasting diarrhoea, recurring fevers, swollen lymph glands, skin rashes, memory loss, depression, dementia and severe chronic fatigue. However, it is important to realise that all of these symptoms can occur with other illnesses and it it therefore not possible to rely on these symptoms alone.

Following an infection with HIV, it may be six to eight years before the development of AIDS, and then a further two or three years before AIDS related mortality.

For more background information on HIV/AIDS, and in particular the linkages with and importance of livestock development see the linked publications below under references and further reading: Bishop-Sambrook (2004), FAO (2004), and FAO (2005).

The impact of HIV/AIDS on farming households is through the removal of significant proportions of the available labour by a reduction in the numbers of people able to work in a productive way on the farm. This is accompanied by an overall reduction in the knowledge necessary for continued production, since those most likely to be affected by HIV/AIDS are in the potentially most productive age bracket.

This loss of labour changes the focus of household activity from one agricultural production and a surplus of food, to one of basic survival and food insecurity.

Smallstock play a vital role in many rural livelihoods, providing food, income and security. Smallstock products are rich in protein, minerals and vitamins. They are sources of income and manure for use as compost or fuel, and a store of wealth and insurance. Small livestock may enable women to have more economic independence if they control the income earned from the sale of livestock and their products. Tending to the ongoing every-day requirement of smallstock can normally be integrated into the time and labour constraints facing many HIV/AIDS affected households. (See also Smallstock are Important).

Community-managed flocks of sheep, goats or poultry can play multiple roles as a component of an AIDS response strategy. In addition to providing income for the group managing the flock, they are a source of animals to distribute to vulnerable households in the community. The flocks can be used as a basis for passing on skills and for demonstrating simple low cost improvements in animal husbandry to the community.

For example, village or backyard chickens can be found in all developing countries and play a vital role in many poor rural households. They provide animal protein in the form of meat and eggs and can also be sold or bartered to meet essential family needs such as medicine, clothes and school fees. Scavenging chickens are also active in pest control, and they provide manure. The production levels from village chickens is lower than that of intensively raised birds but it important to realise that this output is obtained with a minimum input in terms of housing, disease control, management and supplementary feeding. They mostly look after themselves. Chickens are generally owned and managed by women and children and are often essential elements of female-headed households. Since women are the main carers of sick people, chickens along with other smallstock can play an important role providing them with additional resources and enabling them to survive, as well as to carry out the tasks of supporting those living with HIV/AIDS.

FAO. (2005). SEAGA Livestock Guide: Planning with a Gender and HIV/AIDS Lens. FAO, Rome.

Holden, S. (2004). Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in Development and Humanitarian Programmes. Oxfam GB in association with ActionAid and Save the Children UK.