Zambian government Thursday called on the international community to work out a nutrition food program to cater for the people inflicted with HIV/AIDS in the country.

Vice President Lupando Mwape made the call at his office here when three visiting HIV/AIDS ambassadors from three European countries paid a courtesy call on him.

Mwape implored on the international community to supply nutritional food to prolong the lives of the HIV/AIDS patients.

The vice president called on the three countries to help the World Food Program (WFP) supply nutritional food to remote rural areas of Zambia.

He said that Zambian government is committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS and has since made a roadmap to meet the challenges of HIV/AIDS.

The AIDS ambassadors delegation leader Paul Bekkers said Zambia has to address the gender gap in order to tackle the HIV pandemic.

The ambassador of the Netherlands said women are at a higher risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS than men and hence the need for the government to address the gender issue.

The three HIV/AIDS ambassadors from the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway arrived in Lusaka Tuesday to get first hand information on the current status of the pandemic in Zambia.

During their four-day stay here they will also meet Zambian foreign, finance and health ministers and visit Matero Health Referral Clinic in Lusaka to get first information on HIV/AIDS.

About 1.2 million Zambians are HIV positive out of the total population of 10 million of the country.

Source: Xinhua