ABSTRACT
Local communities in Rungwe district, Mbeya, are grappling with the effects of HIV/AIDS during a time of major crisis in the smallholder farm economy and marked shifts in the balance of economic power between men and women. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has spread throughout Rungwe. It is prevalent in peri-urban trade centres along the main highway linking Malawi to Tanzania, which cuts right across the district. It is also found in villages scattered along the numerous ‘tea roads’ built to facilitate the flow of green leaf tea from smallholder farms to the Katumba tea factory. Mbeya region ranks highest in Tanzania in terms of officially reported accumulated AIDS cases (NACP, 1998b:11).
