Household Food Security and Nutritional Status of HIV Sero-Positive Patients in Longisa County Hospital, Kenya

Abstract

Globally a total of 842 million people was food insecure between 2011 and 2013. The prevalence of food insecurity in Africa is high whereby close to 25% of Africa’s population is food insecure More than 10 million Kenyans are chronically food insecure and 1.6 million have HIV. Food insecurity remains a crucial problem in poor households, and its implications worsen in disease states including Human Immuno-deficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The purpose of this study was to assess the household food security and the nutritional status of HIV sero-positive patients attending Comprehensive Care Clinic at Longisa County Hospital, Bomet County. The study used a cross-sectional study design on a sample size of 210 HIV sero-positive patients. A questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic and socio-economic factors, anthropometric measurements, and food security status. Statistical analysis was done using Pearson-moment correlation, Chi-square, Independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results showed that 61.6% were females, household food insecurity prevalence was 17.7% About 23.7% of the respondent’s households had severe household hunger. Mean Household Hunger Scale score (HHS) was 1.56±0.061 indicating that most of the respondent’s households experienced moderate household hunger. 7.6% of the respondents were severely undernourished, and 15.2% were moderately undernourished. There was a significant relationship between nutritional status measured by BMI and household food security status at p=0.001. Household food security status measured by HHS and nutritional status had a significant association at p=0.001. Household food security status is a core determinant of the nutritional status of HIV sero-positive clients. Such information provides an ample platform for optimizing ART, enhancing rehabilitation, and adherence to treatment.