With the goal of ensuring that people with HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa receive adequate nutrition, a World Health Organization Technical Consultation on Nutrition and HIV/AIDS in Africa opened Sunday night in Durban, South Africa.
The meeting is a collaborative effort of six UN agencies (WHO, UNICEF, FAO, WFP, UNHCR, and UNAIDS), the United States National Institute of Health/Dept. of Health and Human Services and the South African Department of Health.
Many global efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, such as the WHO 3x5 Initiative, have placed a great deal of emphasis on antiretroviral treatment, but have not yet adequately integrated nutritional support into the basic package of care offered to patients living with HIV. But in her welcoming comments to the meeting, Dr. Siobhan Crowley, of WHO’s Department of HIV/AIDS said: “We do not expect that people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from will be able to adhere to complex antiretroviral regimens.”
Background
Poverty and malnourishment are endemic in much of Africa. HIV infection and malnutrition rates are rising to alarming levels in sub-Saharan Africa. Malnutrition can almost be seen as a co-epidemic (like TB), with complex interactions with HIV/AIDS.
Poor nutrition:
- Independently weakens the immune systems of people living with HIV/AIDS
- Increases susceptibility to other infections
- Worsens weight loss
- May speed progression to AIDS and death
In turn, HIV:
- Directly increases the body’s resting energy expenditure by 10% and thus increases the need for nutrition
- Increases the risk of severe infections that further increase the body’s food requirements
- May decrease appetite
- Can decrease people’s ability to find food or work to sustain themselves.
The World Health Organization is convening the meeting in Durban in order to assist African governments facing a range of policy and programme challenges related to food, nutrition and HIV/AIDS.
Evidence to base food and nutritional programmes on is often lacking. Data on macro and micronutrient supplementation are often conflicting, particularly in adults and children with HIV.
Thus the goals of the consultation are to:
- Develop strategies that are both evidence-based and feasible to help improve the health status of people living with HIV/AIDS in southern and eastern African countries.
- Review and disseminate the latest evidence on nutrition and HIV/AIDS, and thereby help ensure nutrition is integrated as part of a comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS.
According to opening remarks by Mr. Samuel Nyambi of the UNDP and the Chair of the UN Regional Directors Team for Southern Africa, the meeting will help develop practical guidance for global initiatives such as 3x5, the Blair Commission Report and for the summit of heads of state and government to be held in September in New York to discuss progress in implementing the Millenium Goals (see http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/).