Integrating nutrition support for food-insecure patients and their dependents into an HIV care and treatment program in Western Kenya

Abstract

The Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) is a partnership between Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Moi University School of Medicine, and a consortium of universities led by Indiana University. AMPATH has over 50,000 patients in active care in 17 main clinics around western Kenya. Despite antiretroviral therapy, many patients were not recovering their health because of food insecurity. AMPATH therefore established partnerships with the World Food Program and United States Agency for International Development and began high-production farms to complement food support. Today, nutritionists assess all AMPATH patients and dependents for food security and refer those in need to the food program. We describe the implementation, challenges, and successes of this program.

Figures

FIGURE 1

Map of western Kenya showing locations of Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) clinics. Note. Eldoret is the location of the program headquarters.

FIGURE 2

Kilograms of food produced by the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) nutrition program and the numbers of its beneficiaries: Western Kenya, 2007. Note. A serious hailstorm negatively affected food production in October; Christmas and the lead-up to national elections affected it in December.