AIDS - Nutrition link being slowly acknowledged.

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Slowly, but surely, evidence is beginning to emerge that some senior officials within the UN may perhaps be beginning to get the message about the relationship between poor nutrition, depressed immunity, and AIDS.Taken alongside the recent 3-page World Health Assembly resolution calling on Member States to ensure that special attention be given to integrating nutrition into all HIV/AIDS policies http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA59/A59_R11-en.pdf this is undoubtedly good news.Clearly, however, and bearing in mind Rugulema's statement that he would like to see "good ARV treatment programmes", there is still undoubtedly a long way to go. Paulhttp://iafrica.com/news/sa/921207.htmTORONTO'The hungry can't eat Aids messages'Fran Blandy Fri, 11 Aug 2006Good nutrition could be the only available life prolonging alternative to people living with HIV/Aids in rural areas, a senior officer for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Thursday."Sick people can't farm, they can't work. Hungry people can't eat Aids messages," said HIV/Aids and food security officer Dr Gabriel Rugulema, speaking to

journalists ahead of the 16th International Aids conference in Toronto which starts on Sunday.He said people who had little access to food could not be bothered with Aids warnings. Bad nutrition depressed the immune system, resulting in a higher likelihood of contracting HIV, the faster development of Aids and subsequent death.Good nutrition keyRugulema said too much emphasis was currently being placed on Aids as a medical problem, when in rural areas good nutrition was the key to the efficacy of anti-retroviral drugs, as they had to be taken after a meal."The critical role of nutrition must be given its proper attention in Aids policy," he said.Rugulema said a well-nourished person living with HIV/Aids could maintain a good appetite, stable weight, experience less illness and recover

quickly should illness occur. Govt can "do more and do better"Rugulema said the South African health department could "do more and do better" when in came to fighting HIV/Aids.South Africa has the highest number of people living with the virus in the world, accounting for more than one eighth of the estimated 40.3 million cases.Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has come under criticism from Aids activists and opposition parties for her stance on anti-retrovirals, concentrating on their negative side effects and that people should eat healthily as a primary way to fight HIV/Aids.She has often said that foods such as lemon, beetroot, olive oil and raw garlic can protect one from HIV/Aids.Rugulema said the efficacy of those particular foods had not been proved."They should be part of a broader basket of foods," he said. He said he would like to see "very aggressive" HIV prevention programmes in townships and good ARV treatment programmes.Growing up with HIVIonel Belfiore, a 17-year-old HIV-positive advocate with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, attributes his ongoing health to "a lot of healthy living, exercise, vitamins and luck."Having been separated from his parents in Romania and put in an orphanage after he contracted HIV from contaminated blood at about one-year-old, Belfiore has been lucky enough to have lived longer than the expectancy rate for HIV infected children.After spending a year in a steel crib under appalling conditions he

was adopted by an American family and as a 17-year-old has become a strong advocate for the fact that it is possible for infected young people to grow up happy and healthy.Every day, 1800 children become newly infected with HIV and half a million are expected to die this year, said the Foundation's president and CEO, Pam Barnes.Barnes says the evidence that ART's can help children live longer showed how important they are, even though nutrition was important."We know drugs work, even in resource poor settings," she told Sapa.She said children had been grossly neglected in the world's response to Aids, with a lack of medicines or even the testing of medicines for infected children who were being jeopardised by being given smaller doses of adult medicines not tested for their needs.In South Africa, the

challenge was the "sheer numbers" of Aids orphans, which made it difficult to reach these children, said Barnes.Sapa -- The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition. Sepp Hasslberger "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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