HIV-induced immune impairment and heightened subsequent risk of opportunistic sellekchem infection can worsen nutritional status [8]. This necessitates the importance of managing patients with opportunistic infection promptly. One of the strengths of this study was the use of large sample size and assessment of some important clinical factors associated with malnutrition. To avoid recall biases, medical charts and ART data base were triangulated with the primary data collected by structured interview administered questionnaire. However, the cross-sectional nature of the study limits the investigation to the level of the association between determinants and outcomes of interest (malnutrition). Hence, it��s impossible to get information about causal relationship in the majority of associated factors.
Likewise, further comparative study, between HIV-infected and non-HIV infected persons that could explore more risk factors for malnutrition is recommended. Conclusion The results of this study provide data on the characteristics of nutritional status of HIV-positive patients and important associated factors. To mention few, employment status, poverty status, WHO clinical staging, number of previous opportunistic infections and gastrointestinal symptoms were among the imperatives. It has been learnt that malnutrition & its problems in HIV patients are complex & interwoven; no single recipe exists as solution either. Hence, there is a prompt need to integrate nutritional care in comprehensive continuum of HIV care.
As well, it��s needless to argue about improving household income through creating employment opportunities and engaging the needy unfortunates in amenable income generating activities could possibly alleviate these predicaments. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions SH contributed in the generation of the topic, preparation of proposal, data collection, analyses and development of the manuscript. GT contributed in reviewing the proposal, assisted in data collection, analyses and critical review of final manuscript. HT contributed in critically reviewing the proposal, the manuscript and processed publication. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgments This research was supported by the joint NORAD/UNICEF fund to Dilla University HIV/AIDS Prevention & Control Office.
The major aim of public health policies is to improve and maintain the health of citizens and to reduce health inequalities. These policies have to be based GSK-3 on factual information drawn from relevant data and comparable indicators. Relevant health indicators enable correctly targeted policy measures and assessment of their impact. To reach this goal, health indicators have to be based on representative population-based health data and need to be comparable between points in time, countries and areas.