Water and HIV/AIDS : some strategic considerations in Southern Africa

This paper examines the socioeconomic and health impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in southern Africa. It first gives strategic overviews of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, water resources management, and water use in southern Africa. The paper then elaborates on six groups of problems where HIV/AIDS impinges on water resources management: (1) inaccurate estimates of population growth rates and mortality rates lead to incorrect estimates of water demand, hindering proper planning of water supply systems; (2) changes in the socio-economic profiles of communities leads to difficulties in paying for water and sanitation services; (3) loss of skilled staff leads to increased costs for recruitment and training, and possible production delays; (4) decline in productivity as more staff members and their family become infected; (5) decline in drinking water quality caused by inadequate water treatment and sanitation leads to increased public health risks, particularly for infected individuals; and (6) the (small) risk of groundwater pollution by informal/clandestine graveyards.