The Zimbabwean households already affected by HIV/Aids and those headed by women, children or the elderly may have difficulty accessing food aid because of stigma, according to a recently released AIDS country profile.

Opposition parties in the country are working out ways to contest together the forthcoming general elections, president of the Malawi Congress Party Gwanda Chakuamba says.

Susan Ndokwe, the chairperson of Chiedza Home of Hope in Glen View, says that the unending food shortages in the country have increased the vulnerability of patients, who need balanced food to boost the immune system. He says most of their patients are no longer able to take their medication on hungry stomachs.

European Union Head of Delegation, Wiepk van der Goot, says Malawi can get out of its hunger situation and dependence on food aid through growing different types of crops and using irrigation practices during the winter season. Food security can also be diversified into income security through the growing of crops for sale and consumption, he says.

International humanitarian aid agencies fear that displaced farm workers and their families are being forcibly relocated to areas close to the borders of Zimbabwe. It is noted that from there they are being encouraged to leave the country.