Nutrition support
These are a few of my colleagues in Kinshasa, working at a hospital with our pediatric HIV program (volunteers, counselors, and doctor).
The program used to receive support from the World Food Program, which provided nutrition kits to all people living with HIV/AIDS. I am not sure why WFP stopped providing this support, other than the fact that it is probably very expensive, but they did. Many folks do not have adequate nutrition in the first place, and with HIV and medications if they are on antiretrovirals, their situation can be even worse.
At the moment, our program does not support all people with HIV, or even all children with HIV. We are providing a nutritional package for malnourished and severely malnourished children only. The storage of materials is on the left, and the package is on the right. This represents one month's allocation of oil, sugar, maize, soy flour, and powdered milk.
The main drawback, in addition to not reaching all children or all people living with HIV, is that even with proper counseling and emphasis to parents on the health of the infant, it's pretty clear that a family is not going to deny these supplies to other children or family members. Without additional supplies/funding, however, it's a bit of a conundrum.
The program used to receive support from the World Food Program, which provided nutrition kits to all people living with HIV/AIDS. I am not sure why WFP stopped providing this support, other than the fact that it is probably very expensive, but they did. Many folks do not have adequate nutrition in the first place, and with HIV and medications if they are on antiretrovirals, their situation can be even worse.
At the moment, our program does not support all people with HIV, or even all children with HIV. We are providing a nutritional package for malnourished and severely malnourished children only. The storage of materials is on the left, and the package is on the right. This represents one month's allocation of oil, sugar, maize, soy flour, and powdered milk.
The main drawback, in addition to not reaching all children or all people living with HIV, is that even with proper counseling and emphasis to parents on the health of the infant, it's pretty clear that a family is not going to deny these supplies to other children or family members. Without additional supplies/funding, however, it's a bit of a conundrum.