1. Musiime Lutgard and Peter M. Rukundo
BREASTFEEDING PRACTICES AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN BORN TO MOTHERS LIVING WITH HIV THE CASE OF KAWAALA HEALTH CENTER IV, WAKISO DISTRICT
Musiime Lutgard and Peter M. Rukundo /

2. Background
The HIV pandemic has negatively affected breastfeeding practices
Mothers are faced with a dilemma of competing dangers
There is a risk of mother-to-child transmission through breastfeeding
On the other hand there is a risk of undesirable consequences if a child is not breastfed.
Prevalence of HIV in Uganda is at 7.3% and it affects 93% adults 15 years and above with 56% of them being women.

3. Recommended practice Option B+ is recommended throughout pregnancy.
Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended during the first six months of life and continuous breastfeeding for at least 12 months

4. Recommended practice

5. Specific objectives
Identify the common Infant and Young Child Feeding practices used by women living with HIV.
Assess child nutrition status in households with mothers with HIV/AIDS.
Explore the socio-economic and cultural factors that influence breastfeeding and child nutritional status in households with women living with HIV/AIDS.

6. Methodology Cross-sectional design
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches
Involved simple random sampling upon ethical approval from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA)
60 mothers with children under the age 6-59 months were sampled on 3 randomly selected days
Used a semi-structured questionnaire
Nutrition status of the children was assessed using anthropometric indices
The study was performed in a period of 3 months.

7. RESULTS

8. RESULTS C’ONTD

9. Results cont’d
18 of the 24 working mothers had stopped exclusive breastfeeding due to job-related challenges
Of all the mothers interviewed, only 4 fed their children with all the 5 food groups.

10. Recommended 5 food groups source: UGAN

11. Conclusion
Unlike wasting, levels of exclusive breastfeeding were lower than the national average
Undernutrition was mostly noted during complementation
Practical demonstrations of foods and preparation of nutritious diets were lacking as many of the mothers were unaware of recommended child care and nutrition practices
It was noted that Option B+ was the emphasised option for PMTCT and majority of the mothers knew or had heard about it.

12. Recommendation
Interventions to scale up nutrition in the context of HIV/AIDS
Organise regular group support meetings and/ CBOs specifically concentrating on HIV mothers to encourage proper IYCF practices.
Advocate for work friendly policies to encourage breastfeeding
Adopt practices like the breast milk banks so that even mothers who are not in position to exclusively breastfeed there babies get the opportunity to have their children breastfed

13. Remember even babies born to mothers living with HIV need too mom-made, not man made milk; so let’s invest in creating an enabling environment for these mothers and their babies.

14. Thank you