A study on the impact of supplementary nutrition and ART management on children with HIV/AIDS status attending an ART Centre

Abstract

Background: AIDS has been killing large number of people. The rate of infection of young children is quite high yet they are the ones who are not proportionately covered under ART. Children are vulnerable to infections more compared to adults and if malnutrition co-exists it makes them more vulnerable.  Aims and objectives: To assess the impact of ART treatment on immune status; to study the common opportunistic infections among the study group; to study the relationship between supplementary nutrition and opportunistic infection. Materials and methods: A secondary data was collected about 46 children. Informed consent was taken from the parents/ guardians. Children were suggested to eat one extra meal and ground nuts and one egg thrice weekly. Result: There was significant increase in the CD4 count in these children (p <0.01) and the occurrence of opportunistic infections reduced significantly in those taking supplementary nutrition (p<0.001). In terms of opportunistic infections, skin infections were more common followed by tuberculosis and diarrhea. Conclusion: Supplementary nutrition reduces the opportunistic infections and also improves the immunity. However, the study needs to be done with more sample size.