Abstract:
Introduction: Available scientific evidence has revealed that macronutrients and micronutrients are critical for fighting HIV-infection because they are required by the immune system and major organs to attack infectious pathogens. It is believed that weight gain or maintenance might be achieved through good nutrition and has helped to reduce the consequences of wasting in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). Good nutrition helps to strengthen the immune system and reduce the severity and impact of opportunistic infections in people living with HIV/AIDS.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess nutrition status and associated factors among HIV infected under-fives attending Care and Treatment Clinics in Shinyanga, Region, Tanzania. For the sake of this study, the nutritional status that was assessed was wasting.
Methods: A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Shinyanga region. Using simple random sampling technique a total of 237 HIV-infected under-fives accompanied by a parent/caregiver at the care and treatment clinic were recruited. Data on house hold socioeconomic status and child’s clinical as well as demographic information were collected using a pre prepared questionnaire and was captured using Microsoft Excel and exported to SPSS version 24 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to desribe the characteristics of he study population and to establish the prevalence of wasting among HIV infected underfives. Factors associated with nutritional status among HIV infected under-fives were determined using Chi square test. P-value <0.05 was used as a cut-off point for the association.
Results: The prevalence of wasting in this study was found to be 30.8% and wasting among HIV infected children was not statistically associated with any of the clinical, socio-economic and breast feeding factors that were assessed.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of wasting among HIV-infected under-fives in this study indicates the need for the joint effort between parents and caregivers, the government and stake holders to design and implement interventions to improve nutritional status among these under-fives.
