Zimbabwe Farmers Use HIV Drugs to Speed Chicken Growth

An investigation by the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project, published in Daily Maverick, has uncovered that some Zimbabwean poultry farmers are illegally adding antiretroviral medicines—intended for HIV patients—to chicken feed. The practice is reported to accelerate growth, allowing birds to reach market size in about a month instead of the usual six weeks, and to reduce mortality, thereby boosting farmers' profits.

Health officials warn that feeding antiretroviral drugs to chickens could compromise food safety and may diminish the effectiveness of HIV treatment for consumers who eat the meat. Daniel Zulu, former head of the toxicology department at Zimbabwe's government laboratory, cautioned that diversion of these drugs could worsen shortages for the country's estimated 1.3 million people living with HIV. Similar misuse of antiretrovirals in poultry has also been noted in Tanzania and Uganda, prompting broader concerns about drug diversion and public health.