Nutrition

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Considerations for Accelerated PMTCT Programming

  • Source:
  • USAID & WASHplus. 2012.

  • Summary:
  • Many life-threatening opportunistic infections are caused by exposure to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Diarrhea, a very common symptom that can occur in people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV), affects 90 percent of PLHIV and results in significant morbidity and mortality, especially in HIV-positive children. Studies have shown that children 7-14 months of age show an increase in diarrhea after being exclusively breastfed and this is linked to the introduction of complementary feeding. While previously it was thought that unsafe water was the primary cause, recent evidence is also pointing to unsafe food.

  • Keywords:
  • Diarrheal Diseases Handwashing (Hand Washing) Household Water Treatment & Storage Nutrition People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) PMTCT (Preventing Mother to Child Trans.) Programming Guidance Sanitation/Feces Disposal
  • Water, Engineering and Development Centre Site – Water Supply and Sanitation for Disabled People and Other Vulnerable Groups

    • Source:
    • Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)

    • Summary:
    • The WEDC website provides research to improve knowledge and use of affordable aids, methodologies, and approaches by water and sanitation service planners and providers, and organisations and individuals who assist disabled people and their families in low-income communities maximise their access and use of the domestic water cycle. There are over 600 million disabled people in the world, of whom over 75% live in developing countries. The poorest suffer from inadequate diet, reduced access to health care, and poor hygiene -- each of which contribute to a higher risk of disability. In turn, disability exacerbates poverty, by placing an added strain on already fragile family economies, and disabled people face problems of access to services and opportunities, compounded by discrimination and social exclusion. Despite all these factors, the poor and disabled are largely ignored by governments and development programmes. WEDC aims to help with social integration, restore dignity to the individual disabled person, and reduce the workload of their family members by improving disabled people's access to and use of the domestic water cycle.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Disabled Patients Evidence Base Formative Research Handwashing (Hand Washing) Nutrition Sanitation/Feces Disposal Stigma Websites
  • AIDSTAR AIDS Support and Technical Assistance Resources – Improving the Lives of PLHIV Training Resources

    • Source:
    • AIDSTAR-One

    • Summary:
    • Several USAID projects have developed training materials and participant manuals for integrating WASH into home-based and facility care. These provide more detailed "how tos": both how to improve sanitation and hand washing through behavior change, and how to build capacity of professional and lay cadres. USAID’s AIDSTAR I program has developed a comprehensive training guide and materials for health workers available from the AIDSTAR website.

  • Keywords:
  • Food Hygiene Home-Based Care Household Water Treatment & Storage Innovation Maternal and Child Health Nutrition OVCs (Orphans/Vulnerable Children) People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) PEPFAR PMTCT (Preventing Mother to Child Trans.) Sanitation/Feces Disposal Small Doable Actions Websites
  • FANTA Site – Focus Area: HIV

    • Source:
    • FANTA (Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance)

    • Summary:
    • HIV compromises the nutritional status of infected individuals and malnutrition worsens the effects of the disease. Nutrition interventions can help break this cycle by helping PLHIV manage symptoms, reduce susceptibility to opportunistic infections, improve nutritional status, promote response to medical treatment, and improve overall quality of life. Specifically,with support from USAID and PEPFAR, FANTA-2: a) provides technical assistance to strengthen nutrition assessment, counseling, and support for PLHIV; b) improves food assistance security programming in the context of HIV; c) produces and disseminates program guidance on nutritional care and support interventions; d) helps countries in east and southern Africa adapt HIV-nutrition guidance to their specific contexts through national guidelines, training curricula and programs, counseling materials, monitoring and evaluation support, and capacity-building activities; e) provides in-country support to integrate and scale up nutrition interventions in HIV services in Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia; f) strengthens the evidence base about the impacts of food supplementation on malnourished PLHIV; g) supports randomized controlled evaluations in Malawi and Kenya; and h) supports improved program design and monitoring and evaluation of food-assisted programs addressing HIV and its impacts through technical assistance to USAID.

  • Keywords:
  • Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Nutrition People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) PEPFAR Policy Programming Guidance Training Resources Websites
  • Use of Nutritional and Water Hygiene Packages for Diarrhoeal Prevention Among HIV-Exposed Infants in Lilongwe, Malawi: An Evaluation of a Pilot Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Post-Natal Care Service

    • Source:
    • Xue J et al. 2010. Trop Med Int Health October 2010. University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

    • Summary:
    • In Malawi, free fortified porridge and water hygiene packages were offered to mothers to encourage frequent post-natal visits and to reduce diarrheal rates in infants on replacement feeding. Participant retention and infant health outcome were assessed. The majority of participants adhered to their scheduled visits and retention was favorable, possibly because of the introduction of hygiene and nutrition incentives. The infant diarrheal rate was low, suggesting benefits of regular medical care with hygiene package usage and reliable replacement feeding options.

  • Keywords:
  • Breast Feeding/Infant Feeding Diarrheal Diseases Food Hygiene Formative Research Household Water Treatment & Storage Journal Articles Nutrition People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) PMTCT (Preventing Mother to Child Trans.)
  • Making the Links: Mapping the Relationship between Water, Hygiene and Sanitation, and HIV/AIDS: A Joint Think-Piece by WaterAid Ethiopia and Progynist

    • Source:
    • WaterAid. 2009. London, UK.

    • Summary:
    • Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, already facing numerous obstacles to overcoming this poverty, has in the last twenty years seen HIV/AIDS emerge as a huge threat to people’s lives, and a significant barrier to development. While everyone is vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, the people worst affected are those living in poor, overcrowded areas that lack adequate sanitary facilities, water supply, and medical care – and where family nutrition levels are low. This paper aims to focus on the links between hygiene, sanitation, and HIV/AIDS. Having a potable water supply and latrine close to one’s home is a basic human right that enables people to live healthier lives, free from the risks of water and sanitation-related illnesses; for a person living with HIV/AIDS access to water and sanitation facilities is especially critical, as the risks posed by poor facilities can be fatal for someone who has contracted the virus.

  • Keywords:
  • Accessing Water Evidence Base Handwashing (Hand Washing) Nutrition People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) Sanitation/Feces Disposal