AIDS efforts useless without nutrition - experts

The poor diet of most people on anti-AIDS treatment in Mozambique is cause for serious concern, an association of AIDS physicians warned on Thursday. At a meeting with World Bank officials in the capital, Maputo, the Mozambican Association of Doctors in the Fight Against AIDS (MCS) said many HIV-positive patients were unable to provide enough food for themselves as a result of belonging to large households. Momade Rafico Bagus, an MCS representative, was doubtful whether efforts by Maputo General Hospital to increase the number of people on antiretrovirals to 125 would do much good, due to a lack of proper nutrition, reported the local news agency, AIM. He said some patients at public health facilities also did not return for monitoring, because they were unable to afford transport costs.