[pronut-hiv] HIV/AIDS and Nutrition: Dietary Manual

[Leela McCullough <leela@healthnet.org>]

>From the UNFoundation February 25, 2003

This Week in UN Wire
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HIV/AIDS: FAO, WHO Release Dietary Manual, Stress Importance Of Nutrition 

Releasing a new dietary manual for people with HIV/AIDS, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization today stressed the importance of a good diet for combating the epidemic.
Good nutrition is one of the easiest ways for the 42 million people worldwide who have HIV/AIDS to live better and potentially longer, the U.N. agencies said. Among other benefits, a good diet boosts the immune system, increases energy, maintains weight, supports drug treatments and prevents malnutrition, they said.
Often, though, the relationship between HIV/AIDS and nutrition is "a particularly extreme example of the vicious cycle of immune dysfunction, infectious disease and malnutrition," WHO sustainable development head David Nabarro said. The agencies said poverty and hunger lead to high-risk activities, leading in turn to HIV infection, AIDS and, because family food providers are sick, more hunger and malnutrition. They said malnutrition also makes the body more susceptible to infection.
The agencies said AIDS also reduces nutritional absorption, disrupts appetite and metabolism, wastes muscles and organs and leads to secondary infections that increase nutritional needs, meaning that people with HIV/AIDS must make a special effort to eat enough.
FAO Food and Nutrition Director Kraisid Tontisirin said that "the nutritional aspect of HIV/AIDS has been ignored for a long time. The attention was always focused on drugs. ... The message was always, 'Take two tablets after meals.' But they forgot about the meals."
The new manual includes dietary monitoring forms, fact sheets, tips on food hygiene and recipes for dishes said to bolster the immune system. The agencies are also beginning training sessions for health workers and caregivers, with the first field testing being held this week in South Africa (FAO release, Feb. 25).





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