Abstract:
Background: Despite the fact that much has been done to reduce the burden of
HIV/AIDS, it remains a public health threat, with more than 75 million people
infected worldwide and more than 32 million deaths from the disease associated
with AIDS. Nutritional problems are a strong predictor of illness and death in People
Living with HIV/AIDS. Despite many researches, problems related to malnutrition
remain a challenge. This study was therefore carried out to determine the nutritional
practices and factors affecting it among HIV positive adults who were attending
antiretroviral therapy clinic in Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia.
Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess dietary
practices and associated factors among HIV positive adults on ART in Jimma
medical center from June 1 to July 31, 2022. The study participants were selected
using simple random sampling. A total of 325 HIV patients were included in the
study. An interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data
on demographic, socioeconomic characteristics, Behavior, health status, food
security status and dietary practices. After coding and checked for quality data was
entered into EpiData software, version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS version 25.0
for analysis. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used
to assess the effect of the various factors on dietary practices. P-value ≤ 0.05 at 95%
CI was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 316 were participated in this study making the response rate
97.2%. The study revealed that majority (62.3%) and (37.7%) of respondents had
Poor and Good dietary practices respectively. Multivariate Logistic regression
analysis revealed that level of education [AOR=0.041, 95%CI (0.025-0.188)] wealth
index [AOR=0.142, 95%CI (0.038-0.523)] and food security status [AOR=3.208,
95%CI (1.319-7.804)] were significantly associated with poor dietary practices.
Conclusion: The level of Poor Dietary practices was high among HIV positive
adults receiving antiretroviral therapy at Jimma medical center, South West Ethiopia
and significantly associated with low literacy status, low wealth index and food
insecurity status were the significant factors
