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Kenya: Vegetable gardens help ensure effectiveness of HIV treatment

28 Nov 2007 20:32:00 GMT
Source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - Switzerland
By Anita Swarup in Nairobi

Website: Website: http://www.ifrc.org

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Phillis Odhiambo works at Molo Hospital on a garden specifically set up by Red Cross to help clients to better manage nutritional intake. Good nutrition is vital for people on ARV treatments.

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The added nutritional value of vegetables which contains vitamins and minerals is important when taking anti-retroviral medication used to treat people living with HIV. In Kenya, the diet mainly consists of starch and carbohydrates which do not have enough vitamins. Vegetables not only help neutralize the side effects of anti-retroviral treatment but they also help to build up the body's immunity.

The Molo HIV project, initiated by the Nakuru Branch of Kenya Red Cross, now has a farm which serves as a demonstration site - clients can see how they can replicate the same practice on their farms - and which also helps with providing vegetables to people living with HIV. Vegetables are sold at a much cheaper price than those at the market and there are about 30 beneficiaries. Five Red Cross volunteers work there, and all of these volunteers are on anti-retroviral drugs supplied by the Kenyan government.

"I am feeling healthier, I even run faster. And when they are jumping in church, I also jump, I am doing better," says Rose Moraa, one of the five.

The government of Kenya has recently made ARV treatment widely available and free to people living with HIV (previously it was only available in certain large hospitals) which has had major implications for the Kenya Red Cross HIV programme. Much of the focus of the home-based care system is now on ART (anti-retroviral therapy) for example ensuring people take their drugs at set times and eat nutritious food, when previously the effort was focused on palliative care.

Msallam Ahmed, HIV Prevention Officer for Nakuru Red Cross Branch, comments: "For the Kenya Red Cross, this is our first year with anti-retroviral therapies; it is new in the country. We are looking at it as a key factor in fighting stigma in general and to improve the lives of people living with HIV and to support the community."

The first AIDS case was diagnosed in Kenya in 1984. Today around 6.7% of the population are living with HIV - and more in some parts, such as the Molo area, where the prevalence rate is as high as 24.7% (2004). This is partly because of displaced families and ethnic conflict in the region and because Molo is on the main road to Sudan where lorries make stopovers.

In line with the Kenya Red Cross HIV Strategic Plan, the Nakuru Red Cross Branch began the FHHBC (Family Health and Home-Based Care) project in Molo as a response to the high prevalence. The main goal of community home-based care is to provide the organizational structures, resources and framework that will enable the community and individual families to look after their own sick members.

One of the main objectives of the Nakuru Red Cross Branch is to mobilize and sensitize the community to take charge of their own development, identify their development partners and enlist community ownership and support for the project.

Inevitably, the magnitude of the HIV crisis has meant that both the family and the community have to become involved in most care programmes. Hospitals are overflowing with dying AIDS patients, making it difficult to also provide services to people with curable diseases and conditions. HIV makes tremendous new demands - which cannot be met by hospitals alone - on health services. Most families cannot afford multiple admissions to hospitals, much less the very expensive institutionalized care. This situation demands practical and humane solutions where clients are cared for in their own homes and communities for as long as possible.

Volunteers are a crucial part of ART and the home-based care programmes. Jane Njeri is an active volunteer in Molo and is extremely happy with the progress of her clients. She also managed to refer some clients to the hospital to get treatment and ARV drugs.

Today, Felistas, a 22 year old woman living with HIV and Jane's client, can do things that she never imagined she could do. In the past she was not able to go to the hospital but now she can walk there by herself. She is even considering starting her own business.

"When I found Felistas, she was in bed and could not walk. Her mother had lost all hope but I told her no, there is hope, we can take her to the hospital, she can get treatment. Now Felistas can cook her own meal, can bathe herself and even come to the support group," Jane Njeri says.

Jane visits clients every day, bringing with her a home-care kit which consists of porridge, soaps, disinfectants, creams etc. Helping clients taking care of themselves both in terms of food and hygiene is a crucial part of her work.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Wed Nov 28 20:39:44 2007