Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: A Training Manual - Linkages Project

• Describes information collected during client assessment and working with theHIV-infected person to select the most appropriate actions or approachRationale for the proper nutritional management of drug and foodinteractions in HIV/AIDS therapy (slides 4, 5)The food and nutritional implications of modern and traditional therapies need to beproperly addressed to prevent weight loss, wasting, and malnutrition. Propermanagement of drug and food interactions will also ensure the efficacy of thetherapies.Side effects that interfere with food consumption or interactions that limit foodintake or reduce nutrient absorption may also lead to poor medication adherence.This may result in clients discontinuing medications before completing the necessarycourse, which for antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) may last many years. Proper nutritionalmanagement of the side effects will help minimize them and improve the client'sadherence to the treatment.Types of drugs taken by people living with HIV/AIDS in resourceconstrainedsettings (slide 6)People living with HIV/AIDS often use both modern and traditional therapies to treatHIV/AIDS-related symptoms and opportunistic infections.Modern medicationsARVs significantly reduce the replication of HIV in the body and slow the progressionof the disease. The main types of ARVs are listed below. Table 1 lists the mainclasses of ARVs with examples for each class.1. Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs): Efavirenz andNevirapine2. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) or nucleoside analogues:Abacavir, Didanosine, Lamivudine, Stavudine, Zalcitabine, and Zidovudine247