Shukria's last day

The day was really productive with discussions concerning food security, nutrition and HIV & AIDS. All the participants agreed that ensuring food security at family and community levels were important. Women and girls particularly, who are mostly infected and affected by HIV are more stigmatized by HIV and are not considered significant individuals especially in developing countries where no preference is given to their essential nutrition needs.

Less funding is available to meet the nutritional requirements of People living with HIV and their families throughout the world. Global Fund provides this support to the governments of different countries.

An inspiring case study of an HIV+ person from Africa was also discussed whose CD 4 count was only 1. Proper and good nutrition in addition to ARVs helped her to survive. Her mother also played a very critical role in motivating her and providing her with the timely nutritional intake.

It is always pleasant to see donor commitments at big forums, however when it comes to implementation countries are met with many challenges due to the lack of funds and political leaders not fulfilling those commitments for the HIV+ community. It was pointed out that favoritism and personal relationships are preferred in comparison to selection on merit especially in developing countries with regards to resource distribution. These are the issues which really need to be addressed appropriately.

Discussions were carried out on strengthening the agricultural sector since it is very important to market the sector as sustainable and can be strengthened to contribute to timely and proper nutritional items for people living with HIV and their families.

There is a lot of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV therefore joint efforts from civil society organizations, governments and communities are required to rise above this. UNAIDS and Governments primary focus should be on policies for HIV+ people and a strategy for the implementation of the commitments for Universal Access to Treatment, Prevention, Care and Support. Furthermore, there is a great need for evidence based research on the impact of nutrition for people living with HIV in order to meet their appropriate nutritional needs and to ensure that food and nutrition elements are fully integrated into HIV programming and to ensure quality services delivery.