Effect of nutrition education on dietary diversity among HIV Patients in Southeast, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Integrating nutrition interventions which include nutrition education in HIV/AIDS care program may help people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) make better decisions regarding their nutrition to improve their immune system. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of nutrition education on dietary diversity among HIV/AIDS patients in Southeast, Nigeria. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 370 HIV patients divided into two groups of 185 each for the study and control groups. The nutrition education program was delivered to the study group. In both groups, their practice of dietary diversity was ascertained pre- and post-intervention. The Chi-square test and McNemar were used in the analysis. RESULTS: Practice of dietary diversity was low among 79(42.7) and 69(37.3) respondents in the study and control groups respectively (x(2) =1.126, p=0.289). Three months after the intervention, the proportion of respondents with low dietary diversity significantly decreased from 42.7% to 22.7% in the study group while the control group had no appreciable reduction (x(2)=7.532, p=0.006). CONCLUSION: Nutrition education plays a positive role in the dietary diversity of PLWHA. This suggests that nutrition education should be a key component in the care of PLWHA for a better nutritional outcome.