ABSTRACT

HIV and nutrition are interrelated and as antiretroviral drug become increasingly available in the poorest parts of the world, critical questions are emerging about how well the drugs work in people if they are short of food, and for those already receiving treatment.HIV/AIDS have posed various medical, nutritional, social and economic problems. Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) of nutrition  regarding HIV/AIDS is one of the corner stones in the fight against the disease. Evaluating KAPs helps in designing appropriate prevention strategies. The study was designed to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practice of nutrition of adults living with HIV attending University of Nigeria teaching hospital. A total of 32 respondents were selected using simple random sampling techniques. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-economic, household, health characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice of nutrition. Data was analyzed using frequency and percentages, means and standard deviation and significant value (p-value). The respondents were between the age of 20-30 years(15.6%), 31-40 years(34.4%), 41-50 years(40.6%) and 51 and above(9.4%). Their knowledge of nutrition and HIV scores were graded poor (56.3%), average (34.4%) and good (9.4%), their attitude towards adequate nutrition was negative(53.1%) while positive (46.9%) and their practice of nutrition was poor(56.3%), fair(37.5%) and good (6.3%). There was no significant relationship between the knowledge, attitude and practice of nutrition among the adults living with HIV attending University of Nigeria teaching hospital at a p-value ≥ 0.05. Health care providers should include the teachings on knowledge about drug-food interactions, use of fruits and vegetables as protective foods and legumes as complementary protein and this can be guided by development and use of food aids during nutritional counseling. Health care providers should ensure sustainability of nutrition education activities and appointments with nutritionist’s dieticians in order to establish judicious eating and attain the body’s requirement and demand for specific nutrients.