Preface

This edited volume is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, concerning the developments within the "Nutrition and HIV/AIDS - Implication for Treatment, Prevention and Cure" field of study. The book includes scholarly contributions by various authors and has been edited by an expert in the field. Each contribution comes as a separate chapter complete in itself but directly related to the book's topics and objectives.

The book includes chapters dealing with the following topics: nutritional status and its effect on treatment outcome among HIV-infected children receiving first-line antiretroviral therapy in Arba Minch General Hospital and Arba Minch Health Center, Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia: Retrospective Cohort Study; HIV-infected children and nutrition: the friend and the foe; malnutrition in HIV/AIDS: aetiopathogenesis; nutrition habits in people living with HIV/AIDS in Bulgaria: review of current practice and recommendations; basic principles of nutrition, HIV and AIDS: making improvements in diet to enhance health.

The target audience comprises scholars and specialists in the field.

**IntechOpen**

**1**

isoniazid preventive therapies.

isoniazid preventive therapy, children, Ethiopia

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

Nutritional Status and Its Effect

HIV-Infected Children Receiving

First-Line Antiretroviral Therapy

in Arba Minch General Hospital

and Arba Minch Health Center,

Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia:

Antiretroviral therapy is a drug treatment that plays a great role in reduction of mortality among children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Studies in Africa have shown that there is short survival time among children receiving antiretroviral therapy. The aims of this study were to estimate the survival time and identify associated factors among HIV-infected children after initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Institution-based retrospective cohort study was conducted among 421 children. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to determine independent predictors. Findings of this study reveal that 261 (62%) children were alive, 43 (10.2%) were lost to follow-up, 52 (12.4%) were transferred out to other facilities, and 65 (15.4%) were reported to have died, and overall prevalence of malnutrition among respondents was 23.7% (95% CI, 19.13–28.27%). Multivariable analysis showed that nutritional status (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) = 4.1, 95% CI = 2.41–6.9), absolute CD4 count below threshold (AHR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.32–3.88), fair and poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (AHR = 0.4, 95% CI = 1.66–6.9), (AHR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.73–6.23), isoniazid prophylaxis (AHR = 0.4, 95%, CI = 0.21–0.65), and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis (AHR = 0.3, 95% CI = 0.14–0.44) were independent predictors of the survival time. Therefore, children living with HIV should be encouraged to adhere to the antiretroviral therapy and take co-trimoxazole and

**Keywords:** antiretroviral therapy, co-trimoxazole preventive therapy,

Retrospective Cohort Study

*Negussie Boti Sidemo and Sultan Hussen Hebo*

on Treatment Outcome among
