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

PurposeNutrition and HIV/AIDS: A Training ManualSession 8To present current knowledge onnutritional care and support forchildren infected with HIV or bornto HIV-infected mothers and careof severely malnourished childrenwith HIV/AIDSSession Outline• Etiology of growth failure among childreninfected with HIV or born to HIV-infectedmothers• Nutrition actions to prevent or reducewasting and specific nutrition deficiencies• Issues in managing severely malnourishedchildren with HIV/AIDSSources ofHIV Infectionin ChildrenHIV Infection in Children• Most HIV+ children are born to HIV+ mothers.About one- third are infected during pregnancy,at delivery, or through breastfeeding• Some are infected through HIV-contaminatedblood or medical equipment• Some are infected through child sexual abuse• By 2000 more than 5 million children wereestimated to be living with HIV/AIDS, more than80% of them in AfricaHIV Infection in Children, Cont.• Assessing the HIV status of children is expensive• Conventional methods such as HIV antibody tests(ELISA and Western Blot assays) cannot reliablydifferentiate infants’ own antibodies frommaternal antibodies acquired through theplacenta• More expensive virologic assays such as DNApolymerase chain reaction (PCR) are more usefulfor defining HIV in young children