Transcript POSITIVE LIVING “…Life Effectively”

POSITIVE LIVING AND NUTRITION
BEYOND HOMESTEAD GARDENS
Presented by:
Ntsie Edwin Tlale
Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS
 LRAP started with homestead gardening as an initial
intervention on mainstreaming HIV/AIDS into food security
programming
 Over time, realised that food gardens are an entry point for
dealing with the impacts of HIV and AIDS at community
and household level. Lead to growing interest in positive
living
 Lesotho “Know your status” campaign and increasing ART
availability provided an enabling backdrop for LRAP’s work
on food security and nutrition as part of positive living
 LRAP has provided training to government and local NGOs
on positive living and developed materials – Healthy Living
Nutritional Guidelines for poor and very poor HHs and How
to get the most from your garden
POSITIVE LIVING
(Holistic Approach)
What do you need to be healthy?
 Understanding HIV as a chronic
illness
– Knowledge is power
– Understanding, listening to our
bodies
 Making ‘Good Nutrition’ a reality
– Home Gardens
– Home Remedies
 Motivation and commitment
– Psycho-Neuro Immunology (PNI)
– mind, body and soul
Why Positive Living?
 PL is a good intervention to address
HIV/AIDS mitigation for PLHA and vulnerable
HHs.
 Natural and crucial precursor to ART and
complementary to ART
 PL is good practice for affected and infected
HHs, most effective in asymptomatic PLHA
 PL is relevant to offer different sorts of
support depending on the situation.
 PL can slow progression from HIV to
symptomatic HIV.
Why Nutrition?
 Good nutrition and clean water helps the body
fight the virus and other infections. Balanced diet
includes key primary and secondary nutrients (and
a garden can be full of plants rich in these
nutrients)
 Prevents and reverses weight loss
 Promote efficacy of ARVs
Relationship
Food insecurity, HIV/AIDS and Malnutrition – negatively reinforce
each other to increasing risk of HIV infection and decreasing ability
to support networks for vulnerable HHs.
Primary Nutrients
! Selenium (with Vitamin E)
! Zinc
! Vitamin A or beta-carotene
Secondary Nutrients
> Vitamin B12
> Calcium
> Vitamin C
> Magnesium
Selenium
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Sea fish and shellfish
Sunflower seeds
Brazil nuts
Coconut
Aloe leaves
Zinc
 Wild spinach, pumpkin
and sunflower seeds
Vitamin A
 Carrots, mangos,
pumpkin, cassava
leaves, papaya, eggs
yolks, sweet potato
 Fat soluble (need oil)
 Some foods are
enriched (read the
label!)
HOME REMEDIES- Amaranthus
 Natural source of Zinc
 Will grow in any soil,
drought-resistant
 Eat as spinach but can
be very tough
 Seeds can be added to
other foods
 Easy to get and grows
almost everywhere.
Bulbinella
 Squeeze the juice from
the leaves directly on
affected area.
 Good for insect bites
 Irritated skin
 Herpes and shingle
blisters.
Other medicinal herbs
 Sour fig: ease itching and
skin irritation conditions
and treatment of thrush
(oral & vaginal)
 Sutherlandia (Lessertia)
or Cancer bush: Immune
strengthening/weight
loss/diarrhoea.
 African Potato (Hypoxis):
Immune strengthening –
stabilizes helper T-cell
numbers
 Garlic: Natural antibiotic
and anti-fungal
Conclusion
 Positive Living encourages individuals to take
control of their health
 Homestead gardens help even the poorest
households to eat a variety of fresh vegetables
and fruits
 Homestead gardening can include traditional
remedies to help deal with the symptoms of AIDS.
 Positive living makes use of traditional therapy and
links well with primary health care and ART (but
get advice!)
 Information sharing and networking is critical in
improving people’s individual capacity to deal with
HIV and AIDS