An assessment of food supplementation to chronically sick patients receiving home based care in Bangwe, Malawi: a descriptive study.
BACKGROUND
The effect of food supplementation provided by the World Food Programme to patients and their families enrolled in a predominantly HIV/AIDS home based care programme in Bangwe Malawi is assessed.


METHODS
The survival and nutritional status of patients and the nutritional status of their families recruited up to six months before a food supplementation programme started are compared to subsequent patients and their families over a further 12 months.


RESULTS
360 patients, of whom 199 died, were studied. Food supplementation did not improve survival but had an effect (not statistically significant) on nutritional status. Additional oil was given to some families; it may have improved survival but not nutritional status.


CONCLUSIONS
Food supplementation to HIV/AIDS home based care patients and their families does not work well. This may be because the intervention is too late to affect the course of disease or insufficiently targeted perhaps due to problems of distribution in an urban setting. The World Food Programme's emphasis on supplementary feeding for these families needs to be reviewed.
Bowie
Cameron
C
Department of Community Health, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi. cam.bowie@malawi.net
Kalilani
Linda
L
Marsh
Reg
R
Misiri
Humphrey
H
Cleary
Paul
P
Bowie
Claire
C
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000628:therapy; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D004032:Diet; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D002523:Edible Grain; D007887:Fabaceae; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008295:Malawi; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D013025:Glycine max; D015996:Survival Rate; D003313:Zea mays
D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated