Re: Need for nutritional support and enhancing quality of ART

[Guest guest]

Re: Sahul's posting on the Need for nutritional support and enhancing quality

of ART

Sahul,

There seems to be an unholy focus on ART without the nutritional aspect

underlying treatment issues. Let's face it, ART is toxic. It has serious

implications on liver, kidneys and various other vital organ functions which are

yet to be studied in Asian and other resource poor settings.

However, few if any NGOs or ART centres seem to be concentrating on the dietary

and nutrional aspects of ART. Some of us are trying but nearly all need support

through sharing of practical information.

At the Humsafar Trust we have used dietary experts from a range of academic

institutes and dietary consultants to evolve cheap diets with foodstuff found

in the common bazar. One of the few universities is the SNDT Women's university

in Mumbai. This institution has a very sophisticated lab for determining

calories, proteins and other vital information needed for sustaining and helping

HIV+ persons maintain both body weight and not lose weight.

Common food stuff like moong sprouts, amla fruit, soya and ragi atta, the right

mix of idli incredients (rice plus udad dal) and many other incredients found

widely in india can be used and we are determined to mix-and-match food stuffs

to give diets costing between Rs. five to eight per meal.

Our dietary consultant, Usha Kamdar, goes to corporates and gets them to sponsor

diets for people who cannot afford everything. We need better public-private

partnerships for that to happen across the board.

Keep safe and keep happy...

Ashok Row Kavi

Humsafar Trust

Mumbai metro

E-mail: <arowkavi@...>

[Guest guest]

Greetings from Delhi

Since the beginning of we have been talking about nutrition every time.

But,never think whether it would be practical or not.

I am agree with you as we have face the same problem that is " FOOD " only food to

eat. it is a fact that most of the PLWHAs spent more for buying OIs medicines

instead of increasing the budget for food. (Based on the interview in 2003 under

ILO research study).

Here with the support of ActionAid India International (financial support) and

DNP+ we have identified PLWHA individual on TB or ART and started providing

nutrition like milk, egg, etc. Firstly, it consumpt more time as we need to

travel to each house to delivered the nutrition items.

In most of the cases, we have visited there is no food to cook in the house;

people started asking for money instead of the nutritive items. and this money

is for buying food. It is true that there are lots of people who eat TB or ART

with empty stomuch - very sad.

According to me Food Security should come first and this could be met through

employment and other services which require the involvement of government, NGOs,

Network and Coorporate sectors all together.

It should be a collective efort.

For an instances, if the government agency (ART clinic) could look at and assess

the socio-economic condition of the client and take one more step - to reach out

and help them finding a job. Especially,

if SACS could do placement for those unemployed PLWHA at each and every VCCTC as

" Peer Counselor " . it would make a difference.

It was really sad that one of our friend who was employed by NACO had passed

away about some months back. This happen at the time when Shrimati Meenakshi was

in NACO - She had mentioned the employment of

one PLWHA at Cochin when she deliver an inaugular speech at the UNDP_INP+

leadership training. she said " We have one young man working with us in our

office " .

And we are not agree to call this " GIPA " as the young man is working as a

librarian in NACO office.

It is reasonable if the government agencies could explain how they implement

GIPA, number of PLWHA employed, involvement at decision making level etc.

There should be transparency at all level.

While we are talking about policy, agenda, proposals etc inside an AC room, we

cannot and should not intentionally make ouselve un aware or ignorant about

those people who are starving and eating their ART dose with empty stomuch.

If we look at the issue regarding educational qulification - most of the

illiterate or literate PLWHAs living in Delhi could understand and speak Hindi

-thus they are capable to be a " Peer Counselor " or Educator.

We want to see that each and every VCCTC have peer counselor and a comprehensive

programme to address food security is implemented.

There has been an attempt to create a very strong community of PLWHA - through

which other effective programmes would be sucessfully implemented. As a process

under this objective, we have approached the ART clinic for the data of those

who are on ART

since it was operated.

The issue of Confidentiality maintained by the ART Clinic could not permit for

accessing the data. And thus, lot's of PLWHA quitely

suffered - eithout exposing and getting an opportunity to be with other peers.

This is what has happening in Delhi and we welcome any suggestion and inputs for

the " breakthrough " . It is a great ? MARK AND we need to know that " WHO SHOULD DO

WHAT????? "

Regards

Ricky Tombing

DNP+

E-mail: <dnpplus@...>