Continuing global food shortages are making it difficult for positive Mozambicans to adhere to their treatment regimens despite free and easy-to-access antiretroviral drugs, IRIN/PlusNews reports.
“It’s hard to know the specific reasons why people abandon treatment, but there are lots of patients with low weight and nutrition problems,” said Clarice Nheleti, a psychologist and supervisor of the psycho-social unit at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders).
According to the article, only 9.7 percent of the country’s 88,000 adults and 6,000 HIV-positive children were receiving food aid by the end of 2007.
Because many HIV medications must be taken with food, positive Mozambicans suffer from constant nausea and weakness when forced to take the drugs on an empty stomach. In addition, poor nutrition leaves them vulnerable to opportunistic infections.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
