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AIDS Care
Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Volume 30, 2018 - Issue 5
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Articles

Implementation of a nutrition assessment, counseling and support program and its association with body mass index among people living with HIV in Accra, Ghana

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Pages 586-590 | Received 08 May 2017, Accepted 24 Nov 2017, Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 

ABSTRACT

In spite of the important role nutrition plays in the management of HIV, access to nutrition services is inadequate, especially in resource limited settings. In addition, nutrition programs for people living with HIV (PLWH) have not been sufficiently evaluated for efficacy and this study was conducted to address this gap. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the nutrition assessment, counseling and support (NACS) program in Accra, Ghana, and to assess whether the level of implementation of NACS was associated with the body mass index (BMI) of PLWH. A cross-sectional study was conducted in six HIV clinics (3 NACS designated and 3 non-NACS). Study participants were 152 adult PLWH at least 6 months on antiretroviral therapy and not pregnant or breastfeeding. Using a NACS implementation scale developed for this study ranging from 0 to 8 (a higher score indicating better NACS implementation), median NACS implementation score was not different between NACS-designated, and non-NACS HIV clinics (5 vs 4, p = 0.14). Almost half (47%) of the respondents were overweight or obese. A higher score on the NACS implementation scale was not significantly associated with overweight or obesity (BMI >24.9 kg/m2) after adjusting for other covariates. It was concluded that, there was poor implementation of NACS in the NACS designated HIV clinics surveyed with no nutrition counseling offered nor food support available to those who might need it.

Acknowledgements

We will like to acknowledge the support of UG-Brown AIDS Academic Partnership (UBAAP), Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee, staff of the study sites and research assistants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [grant number D43TW000237].

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