Nutrition Training

Lucia Ngwira, the community project coordinator of Ungweru, has been actively involved in facilitating discussions with HIV Support Groups in our catchment area.  We have recently finished one round of facilitations on nutrition, natural medicine, and living positively with HIV/AIDS with four AIDS support group including: Msiki, Thukutu, Dunduzu, and Ekwaiweni.  The aim of these sessions is to educate the groups on HIV/AIDS, allowing them to live positively.   Additionally, these sessions provide advice to live healthily through nutrition and natural medicine.  A practical aspect of our facilitations

includes cooking a meal with our provided ingredients, as an example of a balanced diet to the community.  Individuals in the villages rarely understand the six food groups in Malawi.  Without this balanced diet, the health of the individuals inflicted with HIV/AIDS will continue to deteriorate and lead to severe health issues.

From our experience, the AIDS support groups have been greatly appreciative of our efforts in such facilitations – often accompanied with songs and dance.  We are excited to continue facilitations to such AIDS support group in other topics such as HIV discrimination and the elimination of stigma for HIV.   For our way forward, we believe that we must also extend our efforts to the village level.  Our efforts have been concentrated on individuals inflicted with HIV/AIDS; however, it is clear that a program at the village level will help improve the stigma associated with HIV and reduce new cases of the virus.