Living well with HIV/AIDS: Manual from FAO

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" Living well with HIV/AIDS "

A manual on nutritional care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS

- Published by FAO, February 2003

Full manual, available at:

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4168E/Y4168E00.HTM

A VITAL AND OFTEN NEGLECTED COMPONENT OF HOME-BASED CARE Few crises have

affected human health and threatened national, social and economic progress in

quite the way that HIV/AIDS has. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on

household food security and nutrition through its effects on the availability,

stability and access to food and its use for good nutrition.

Meeting immediate food, nutrition and other basic needs is essential if

HIV/AIDS-affected households are to live with dignity and security.

Providing nutritional care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS is an

important part of caring at all stages of the disease.

This manual provides home care agents and local service providers with practical

recommendations for a healthy and well balanced diet for people living with

HIV/AIDS. It deals with common complications that people living with HIV/AIDS

are experiencing at different stages of infection and helps provide local

solutions that emphasize using local food resources and home-based care and

support.

USERS OF THE MANUAL

The manual consists of:

1. Guidelines with accompanying information and explanations (the main text)

intended for use by:

* Health service providers and other extension workers as well as those involved

at the national and community level in the many different aspects of counselling

and home-based care (see Figure 1).

* Community-based organizations working with people with HIV/AIDS who need

information for programming and counselling purposes.

* Planners in the health, social and nutrition services so they can develop

national or local guidelines for nutritional care and support for people living

with HIV/AIDS.

* International agencies that support national and community-based support

programmes for people with HIV/AIDS.

2. Summary sheets that can be used as handouts, listing the main points for each

key topic.

The summary sheets and leaflets are specifically for use by people who

are living with HIV/AIDS or who are caring for a person living with

HIV/AIDS, who want to be better informed.

The Annexes contain:

* Further technical information

* Suggested recipes for home treatments and foods for different conditions

* Forms to monitor food intake and weight

* Sources of literature and information on institutions providing support for

people living with HIV/AIDS