Streamlining dietary and nutrition-specific counseling especially among malnutrition vulnerable HIV positive patients requires provision of targeted-specific information based on regional differences and socio-economic variations. This assessment seeks to understand the variations in dietary patterns of people living with HIV (PLHIV) who access HIV care services at the 11 different USAID/SUSTAIN supported Regional Referral Hospitals (RRH) in Uganda. It also provides information on the relationship between dietary diversity and socio-demographic, economic and HIV care related factors among PLHIV. The findings shall as well provide various stakeholders involved in HIV/AIDS programming care and policy makers with additional information to enable design of appropriate nutritional interventions to improve HIV nutritional care programs particularly among adults.

This was a retrospective unmatched case control study, which targeted 583 (147 cases and 436 controls) HIV infected individuals attending HIV clinics at eleven USAID/SUSTAIN supported Ugandan RRH. The specific objectives were 1. To identify the foods commonly consumed by PLHIV attending HIV clinics at RRH in Uganda. 2. To compare dietary patterns of malnourished and non-malnourished HIV patients attending HIV clinics at RRH in Uganda. 3. To explore demographic, socio-economic and hospital care factors associated with dietary patterns among HIV patients attending HIV clinics at RRH in Uganda. 4. To identify and compare coping mechanisms during food scarcity between the malnourished and non-malnourished HIV patients attending HIV clinics at RRH in Uganda.