AIDS Hitting African Farm Sector Hard Once a largely urban problem, AIDS has moved to rural areas in developing countries, devastating thousands of farming communities and leaving impoverished survivors scarcely able to feed themselves. The disease is no longer a health problem alone, but is having a measurable impact on food production, household food security and rural people" s ability to make a living. The latest statistical evidence on sub-Saharan Africa—the worsthit region—confirms the scale of the epidemic" s impact on the countryside. It is estimated that over half of the 28 million people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas. In order to estimate such figures, epidemiologists start with data taken from tests done on blood samples from pregnant women attending prenatal clinics. They then extrapolate the figures to estimate infection rates in larger areas. Recent findings point to two of the hardest-hit countries— Zimbabwe and Swaziland. "This is a real wake-up call for governments," says an expert on AIDS "Policy-makers are guided by evidence. Solid evidence is now coming in and will make governments understand how rural areas are actually more vulnerable to AIDS than urban areas. Recent reports from other African countries show a similar pattern of rampant rural infection. Poverty underlies the suffering and devastation behind these figures. The HIV/AIDS epidemic cannot be addressed without doing something about rural livelihoods: how people make their living, how they get enough food, what strategies they follow in order to survive.