For any patient, good feeding is not an option. According to the World Health Organization, at least 2 million Ugandans go hungry a day. Many of these are from rural areas and affected by diseases that necessitate better nutrition, something they don’t get because of poverty, lack of health to work or poor weather conditions.
Uganda has many institutions that provide health care to HIV/AIDS patients but not nutritional supplements that help them digest drugs.
Although those with HIV/AIDS often list food as one of their most desperate needs, nutritional support for HIV programs is usually not touched upon during international HIV policy debates, which leaves the programs seriously under-funded.
Estimates by the World Food Program, 1 million of the 6.4 million people expected to enroll in 2008 antiviral programs will need nutritional support at a cost of approximately 65 cents a day per patient. Malnourished patients exposed to antiviral therapy are more likely to die than well-nourished patients because malnutrition impairs people’s ability to absorb the triple-drug therapy and therefore unable to benefit from it.
Poor nutrition may also heighten susceptibility to HIV-related diseases, and an undependable food supply can increase the likelihood of individuals adopting lifestyles that often lead to infection.
Economic empowerment too is as paramount. Uganda Cares, a local NGO is building a social center for nutrition supplements and Social Economic Empowerment Program (SEEP) in Lukaya, Kalungu district for HIV patients are given soft loans to start income generating activities.
