Good nutrition plays an important role in maintaining the health of people living with HIV. Adequate nutrition is essential to maintain a person’s immune system, to sustain healthy levels of physical activity, and for quality of life. Adequate nutrition is also necessary for optimal benefits from antiretroviral therapy.
Two-way effect
Though sub-Saharan Africa is currently being hit hardest, the spread of HIV in other regions, especially South Asia, is accelerating, and the downstream impacts are beginning to be felt. The effects are two-ways. Not only do HIV and AIDS contribute to and increases the food and nutrition insecurity, but the spread of the virus is accelerated when people—because of their worsening poverty—are forced to adopt ever more risky food provisioning strategies.
Reduce economic burden
In many of the countries most heavily affected by HIV, food scarcity and poverty make adequate nutrition nearly impossible. Food is part of a comprehensive antiretroviral therapy package and food and nutrition support is needed for programmes addressing prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Such assistance is essential for the health of HIV-infected mothers and their newborns, but also helps reduce economic burdens associated with childbirth and HIV infection.
What can we do?
- Include HIV-impact statements in all development plans
- Break the link between food insecurity and HIV vulnerability
- Include nutrition as a core component of HIV care
- Give HIV-infected women real options to protect their infants
- Eliminate the stigma of HIV/AIDS
- Face the gender dimensions of AIDS
- Take action on a scale commensurate with the epidemic
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