HIV and AIDS, threats to rural development FAO, with the UN
mandate for improving nutrition and food security, sustainable
agriculture and rural development, has a unique opportunity to
contribute to preventing and tackling the impacts of HIV and
AIDS. The pandemic is shifting from cities to rural areas. In
its earlier stages, the HIV epidemic was predominantly an urban
problem, affecting more men than women, and those with
relatively higher incomes. Now the epidemic has rapidly moved
into the rural areas, hitting those who are least equipped to
deal with its consequences. Today, 95% of people living with -
and dying of - HIV and AIDS are in developing countries. The
overwhelming majority are the rural poor, and among them women
figure disproportionately. A threat to sustainable agriculture
and rural development. The epidemic is undoing decades of
economic and social development and causing rural
disintegration. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is
depleting the region of its food producers and farmers,