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October 2003 On Monday, October 20, the National Organizations Responding to AIDS (NORA) coalition, of which AIDS Action is the convener, held its monthly meeting. The topic for this month’s discussion was nutrition and HIV. Celia Hayes from the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provided the coalition with an overview of the critical role that proper nutrition and nutrition management plays in the overall health and well-being of people living with HIV and AIDS. Ms. Hayes’ presentation focused on five keys areas: 1) why nutrition matters for people living with HIV, 2) nutrition and the Ryan White CARE Act, 3) the nutrition-related consequences of HIV, 4) what doctors should know and do with regard to the nutrition needs of patients with HIV, and 5) the challenges of addressing nutrition when dealing with the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Woven throughout the presentation was the message that nutritional status is strongly predictive of overall health status. In fact, good health and good nutrition are mutually dependent: food intake directly impacts the health of one’s immune system while HIV impacts one’s nutritional needs. In addition, HIV drugs often change one’s food intake needs. For example, some drugs must be taken on an empty stomach, while other drugs must be taken on a full stomach. Ms.
Hayes encouraged coalition members to educate themselves and their
constituencies about the importance of nutrition in the lives
of people living with HIV. Direct service organizations should
be encouraged to include nutrition as one of the services they
provide to clients. Health care providers need to be educated
about the need to include nutrition as part of primary health
care and about the specific nutrition concerns of people living
with HIV. Lastly, organizations that have been involved in discussions
about and planning for the new global AIDS initiative need to
be cognizant of the implications of providing treatment to HIV
positive people in the developing world without providing for
their accompanying nutritional needs. |
