BEYOND HOMESTEAD GARDENS Presented by: Ntsie Edwin Tlale POSITIVE LIVING AND NUTRITION

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

INTRODUCTION 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 POSITIVE LIVING AND NUTRITION

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. POSITIVE LIVING AND NUTRITION

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 POSITIVE LIVING AND NUTRITION 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.

POSITIVE LIVING AND NUTRITION 1 Primary Nutrients ! Selenium (with Vitamin E) ! Zinc ! Vitamin A or beta-carotene Secondary Nutrients > Vitamin B12> Vitamin C > Calcium> Magnesium

Selenium  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