Zelalem Nigatu Belijo, Mende Mensa
Background: Food insecurity and HIV/AIDS are interrelated in with each other. Food insecurity is one of a key contributor of the HIV/AIDS related morbidity and mortality in the world. Therefore this study was conducted to determine the Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity in order to give current evidence to design intervention measures for improvement of food security.
Objective: To determine Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among HIV positive adults attending ART clinic at Arba Minch hospital, Southern Ethiopia March, 2016.
Methods: Hospital based cross sectional study design was carried out from February 15, 2016 to March 30, 2016 at Arba Minch General Hospital. Data was analyzed by using statistical package for social sciences/SPSS version 20. Frequency and cross tabulation was conducted to clean data and describe the study variable in relation to outcome. Binary logistic regression analysis was computed to assess the crude association between dependent and independent variables. Variables which showed association in binary logistic regression analysis and have P-value less than 0.25 were entered in to Multivariable logistic regression model, to identify significant factors associated with outcome variables by controlling confounding factors. Finally the level of significance was set at P-value less than 0.05.
Result: There was 394 study participants involved in this study. Majority of them 260(66%) were females, 127(39.3%) of study participants were in age range of 30-39 years with mean age of 26.65 ± 10.48 years, ranging from 18-60 years. Forty six (11.7%) participants reported that they have experienced HAART related side effect in the past six months. Ninety two (23.4%) consumed less than three meals per day and 26(6.6%) of the respondents consumed below 3 food items. The Prevalence of food insecurity was 77(19.5%). Being female [AOR=2.93(1.16, 7.40)]; Rural residence [AOR=3.59(1.65, 7.836)]; monthly income less than 1000 Eth birr [AOR=6.16(2.33, 16.32)]; Having WHO clinical three & four disease [AOR=4.78(1.95, 11.69)]; Developing OIS [AOR=8.03(3.84, 16.78)] and Poor adherence to treatment [AOR=8.96(3.48, 23.05)] were independent predictors of food insecurity.
Conclusion and Recommendation: In conclusion about one fifth of participants were food insecure. Factors independently predicting food insecurity were being female, Low monthly income, rural residence, having WHO stage III and IV disease, developing opportunistic infection and none adherence to ART treatment. Emphasis should be given by responsible bodies to address these predicting variables to alleviate food insecurity problem.