an Eldis Resource
Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: a training manual for nurses and midwives
Manual for nurses to provide effective nutrition care and support for people living with HIV
Authors:
; East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA); Project of the Academy for Educational Development (AED); LINKAGES Project of AED
Publisher:
Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project , 2008
This training manual, published by the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance II (FANTA-2) Project, recognises that nutrition interventions are an important component of comprehensive care and support for people living with HIV (PLHIV). They help to manage symptoms, promote response to treatment and improving functioning and quality of life. The authors argue that equipping nurses, who in many settings play a critical role in HIV care, with nutrition and HIV knowledge and skills enables them to provide effective nutrition care and support.
The manual is organised into three parts. Part I includes introductory sessions with basic information about HIV. Part II aims to build technical knowledge, and Part III provides guidance on nutrition care for different clients living with HIV. These sessions are organised based on a life cycle approach, with separate sessions on caring for adults, pregnant and lactating women, infants and young children, children 2-9 years old, and adolescents living with HIV.
Whereas this training manual is designed to be used for pre-service training, it can also be used or adapted for in-service training. The latter is more pertinent given the fact that nursing school curricula in the East, Central and Southern Africa region often includes little or no information on the subject. Thus, this manual is designed to address this gap by providing materials that nursing school instructors can use to teach nursing students the knowledge and skills needed for nutrition care and support of PLHIV.
