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

Greatest Impact of NutritionImprovement Early in HIV Disease• Most people do not know they are HIV positiveuntil they have advanced disease• Greater availability of and access tocounseling and testing will let women knowtheir status and deal with it more effectively• Improving access to treatment for HIV oropportunistic infections may increasewillingness to be tested for HIVStigma and Discrimination• Women may for social and cultural reasonshave more limited access to care and supportservices• Family resources are more likely to be used tobuy medication and care for ill males thanfemalesAccess to FoodGender Challenges of HIV• Food access is a major challenge for peopleliving with HIV.AIDS in Africa• Food insecurity increases the vulnerability ofwomen and young girls to HIV infection bydiminishing social status and compromisingability to choose safer and healthier lifestrategies• Lack of adequate food and nutritioncomplicate the management of HIV/AIDS• Vulnerable social status and lack of legal rights(in several countries, rural women whosehusbands had died of AIDS forced to engage incommercial sex to survive because no legalrights to their husband’s property, increasingtheir food insecurity and risk of malnutrition)• Changes in women’s rights and empowermentneeded to reverse the spread of HIVResponsibility for Food Crops• In most cases planting of food crops falls towomen• AIDS-affected households may plant less food orreplace labor-intensive but nutritious cropswith less nutritious but more profitable crops,contributing to food insecurity andmalnutrition, especially in nutritionallyvulnerable pregnant and lactating women andchildrenHIV/AIDS Adds toan Already Heavy Burden• Women are workers, caregivers, educators, andmothers• Women are also usually responsible caring forthe sick, even when they are sick themselves• Women’s legal, social, and political statusmakes them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS