[afro-nets] CRS Nutrition Supplementation Study

["Daphyne Williams" <dwilliam@crs.org>]

Dear Colleagues,

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is pleased to announce the release of the results of a targeted evaluation of the impact of food supplements on HIV+ home-based care clients.  Electronic copies and limited print copies are available by request from Daphyne Williams (mailto:dwilliam@crs.org).  

Globally, there is a paucity of information regarding the impact of nutritional supplements on recipients' lives in settings of high AIDS prevalence and low resources. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Zambia, in partnership with the Catholic Dioceses of Solwezi, Mongu, and Monze, thus conducted a targeted evaluation of nutritional supplementation in Zambia. This project aimed to investigate the impact of nutritional supplements on HIV positive home based care (HBC) clients not taking ARVs that also met household food insecurity criteria for targeted nutritional supplementation. The results show that nutritional supplements can not only improve a client's physical status, but are also linked to  a client's improved mental outlook, increased participation in activities of daily living, and reduced number and severity of negative coping strategies required by a client and the number of AIDS-related symptoms. 

Key results include: 

*	Physical and mental health quality of life index scores in the intervention arm significantly increased from baseline to end line (p<0.001), while both scores in the control arm remained statistically unchanged. 
*	When controlled for, tuberculosis treatment was not a factor that contributed to the change in physical health summary scores. 
*	The average number of AIDS related symptoms per client decreased from 6.04 to 4.76(p<0.001) in the intervention arm, while increasing insignificantly from 5.21 to 5.57 in the control arm. 
*	Clients' ability to take care of themselves, perform daily activities, and work improved in the intervention arm (p<0.001), while declining in the control arm (p<0.05). 
*	The amount of time an HBC client needed assistance per day from a family member or community volunteer caregiver decreased significantly in the intervention arm (p<0.001) while increasing significantly in the control arm. 
*	The severity and frequency of coping strategies used by the household in the past 30 days, as measured by the Coping Strategy Index, decreased significantly in the intervention arm (p<0.001), while increasing in the control arm (p<0.001). 
*	Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurements significantly increased from baseline to end line in the intervention arm (p<0.001), while measurements in the control remained statistically unchanged. (The measurements in both the intervention and control groups were above levels for moderate malnutrition at both baseline and end line). 
*	Food consumption scores, which measure the nutritional quality and diversity of the household diet, decreased significantly in the control arm (p<0.001) while remaining statistically the same in the intervention arm. 
*	The number of meals eaten per day in the intervention arm increased by 13 percent (p<0.05), while decreasing by 11.5 percent in the control arm (p<0.05). 

Funding for the evaluation came from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID and CRS.  

Sincerely,

Daphyne Williams
mailto:dwilliam@crs.org