People living with HIV/AIDS to get nutrition boost
Stabroek News
April 19, 2007
People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS) will soon be receiving nutritional support from hampers supplied by the Food Bank located in the recently refurbished $2.2M National AIDS Secretariat Programme (NAPS) building.
According to Manager of the Food Bank, Somdatt Ramessar, the bank will be operating through a referral system from the various treatment sites and NGOs based on the patient's economic and medical constraints.
"When patients visit the clinics for their treatment, they will be screened by the physicians or social workers to see whether they have satisfied the stated criteria for the support. Once the basis has been established, they will then be referred to the NAPS for their food hamper, which would comprise food items from the major food groups," Ramessaar said at yesterday's opening of the newly refurbished NAPS building which was funded by the World Bank. He disclosed that initially the hampers will contain dry foods but in the future meat would be added to the list. The manager said that the hamper will be issued once a month provided that the recommendation comes from the physician or the social worker. However, the support service is not designed to be a permanent one for the patients but rather every six months there will be an evaluation of each patient by the physicians to determine whether the patient is healthy enough to be taken off the programme.
Additionally, the Food Bank's primary focus will not only be on the distribution of food hampers, Ramessar stressed, as there is need for transparency in its operations since the funding agencies and private sector will play a significant role in the sustenance of the programme. He revealed that they have introduced a mechanism in which reports can be generated to illustrate the use of funds and donations and it will not only track when patients uplift their hampers, eliminating the possibility of one person picking up two hampers in the same month, but it will also provide a comprehensive report on how the donor's money is spent.
The Food Bank is to improve the nutritional status of PLWHAS; enlighten them on the importance of nutrition; empower family members through the nutritional packages; reduce morbidity associated with nutritional deficiency through educational programmes; and establish public and private sector partnership in this area.
HIV-nutrition link
Meanwhile, underscoring the importance of good nutrition for HIV infected person, acting Director of the Food Policy Division in the Ministry of Health, Norma Howard, stated that nutrition and HIV are linked.
"HIV can contribute to malnutrition and because malnutrition reduces your ability to fight disease it worsens the effects of HIV, and contributes to a more rapid progression of the disease. Therefore, malnutrition both contributes to and is a result of HIV disease progression," she said.
Listing effects caused by HIV and AIDS, Howard said it reduces food intake due to either health conditions such as painful mouth sores, psychological factors resulting in depression or economic factors which affect food availability and there is also nutrition mal-absorption (the state of impaired absorption of nutrients in the small intestine) due to gut defects which cause frequent episodes of diarrhoea and vomiting.
There is also the increased need for energy and proteins due to the body's response to infection.
According to Howard, the malnourished person who is HIV positive is more likely to progress faster to AIDS because the body is already weak and cannot fight co-infections, particularly without access to ARVs and prophylactic medications.
"A well-nourished person has a stronger immune system for coping with HIV and fighting illness," she stressed.
While eating enough of the right food is important to everyone, Howard said it is even more important for an HIV positive person since they are at a greater risk of developing malnutrition and other nutrition-related health problems.
"Although PLHWAS may not be experiencing any symptoms related to HIV, the sooner they begin to pay attention to their diet, the better equipped they will be to fight some of the infections and other illnesses that may develop. They may also avoid or delay the onset of deficiencies that can further affect their immune system," she said.
And giving a background to the refurbishing of the NAPS building, Dr Charles Garret, describing the building as a modern, functional secretariat, said that it was built so as to better offer a comprehensive response to the HIV and AIDS fight. He said in January 2006 the structure was a small wooden building with no modern facilities. A proposal was prepared for the upgrading of the building and the World Bank stepped up to the plate and funded two contracts, a $700,000 contract for the drawing up of the design and a further $2.2M for the actual refurbishing of the building which was granted in May 2006. He said by December 2006 the building was almost completed. Describing the building as, "this little treasure of modern architecture of six thousand square feet, two times the old building," Dr Garret said the building can house 30 staff members and apart from the Food Bank it has executive offices, a Voluntary Testing and Counselling (VTC) area, a computer room and a conference area, among others.
Programme Manager of NAPS, Dr Shanti Singh, said that the secretariat has some 23 staff members and that is a far cry from the seven that were there when she took over its management. The Food Bank is housed in what was once the garage of the old building.
Multi-sector response
World Bank Representa-tive, Patricia Lopez, said that the Guyana Government is the leader in the region in the area of a multi-sector response to the HIV and AIDS fight. This is being done by involving various sectors in the fight.
Lopez commended the government for this approach but stated that stigma and discrimination still remain significant impediments in the HIV fight. While government has started work in the area, Lopez said, more still needs to be done.
Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy in his remarks said that the way Guyanese have responded to the HIV fight can be used as an example for national development as all have participated with no blame game being a part of the process. He said while there has been disagreement it has been healthy. (Oluatoyin Alleyne)