Good nutrition plays a key role in the health and wellness of all individuals. It is an essential building block for development and improving global welfare. Eating the right type and amount of food in the right proportion can help prevent, care and slow down the progression of HIV among individuals affected.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIV/AIDS AND NUTRITION
Nutrition and HIV/AIDS are greatly linked. HIV/AIDS can contribute to malnutrition as a result of immune impairment and this worsens the effect of the infection leading to a more rapid progression of the disease. Thus, malnutrition contributes to HIV disease progression. A victim who is malnourished is more at risk as the disease will progress faster to AIDS because of body weakness and the body being unable to fight opportunistic infections.
On the other hand, a well nourished victim, has a stronger immune system for coping with the infection and fighting illness. Improved nutritional status of affected victims helps strengthen the immune system, thereby reducing the incidence of infections, preventing weight loss/lean body mass and delaying the progression of the disease.
HIV/AIDS is one of the crises that have affected human health and threatened social and economic development. As the infection rate increases around the world especially in countries with large rural populations, the pandemic creates a deadly cycle by having a negative impact on food/nutrition security. HIV/AIDS has rural/urban dimensions, affects both poor and rich, though the poor are most severely exposed. It is not gender- neutral, as it affects both sexes leaving women at more risk by affecting them physiologically, economically and culturally.
NUTRITION BENEFITS TO A HIV/AIDS VICTIM
· Nutrition is an entry point for assisting affected communities to cope with the epidemic particularly as part of an integrated approach to household food insecurity, health and care.
· Nutrition care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS is an important way to reduce human suffering and regenerate societies damaged by the epidemic
Nutrition helps to ease burden of the disease and alleviate the overall negative impact of malnutrition among victims.
· Adequate dietary intake enhances the therapeutic effect of medicines, boosts the immune system (by helping to fight diseases, opportunistic infections and maintain body weight), delays the progression of HIV infection to AIDS and increases longevity.
· Good nutrition makes HIV treatment with the ARV more effective.
EFFECT OF NUTRITION ON HIV/AIDS
· Good nutrition delays the progression of the disease
· It improves the antiretroviral treatment and makes it works faster
· Reduces viral load: a malnourished victim also suffers micronutrient deficiency which increases the viral load by enabling HIV to replicate faster and this also increases the transmission mode.
EFFECT OF HIV/AIDS ON NUTRITION
HIV on the other hand has its own effect on nutrition. it does this by affecting the nutritional status and by causing
· Reductions in dietary intake
· Increased energy requirements
· Increased nutrient mal-absorption and loss
· Complex metabolic alteration that leads to weight loss and wasting
NUTRITIONAL ASSISTANCE
Considering the strong link between HIV/AIDS and nutrition, nutritional assistance is seen as an important part to the response of people living with this disease. The assistance takes form of
Nutritional assessment: it helps HIV positive victims receive appropriate treatment, care and support even in the poorest settings
Nutritional counselling: victims should be counselled on
Healthy eating
· Achieving a healthy body weight
Managing lipid abnormalities
· Managing dietary complications related to ARV treatment
· Managing symptoms that may affect food intake
· Appropriate use of herbal and/ nutritional supplements
Food security: HIV/AIDS precipitate and exacerbate food and nutrition insecurity especially with individuals with worsening poverty. HIV/AIDS strikes the household’s most productive members first which leads to immediate strain on the family’s ability to work, feed and provide care. Family members without food or income may migrate in search of work, thereby increasing their chances of contracting HIV and bringing it back home. Importance of food security becomes more fundamental as the causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS epidemics become clearer.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Screening and nutritional status assessment of dietary intake should be included routinely in HIV treatment and care for adults and children.
Government organizations should integrate quality working nutrition assessment and counseling into the health care services for all individuals and this should include provision for therapeutic and supplementary feeding when appropriate along with other type of support.
Government should develop national nutrition strategies to guide the scale-up of nutrition services with the national HIV/AIDS broader health programmes
Facilities equipped to address the household economic and food security issues that are relevant to the well-being and resilience of individuals and families should be provided
By Ihuoma Pearl.
Bsc, Mph
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