Hello+ Counselors Learn About Nutrition

In a novel attempt at including Nutrition Counseling as part of the counseling on HIV, a training session was organized on the basic nutrition for counselors manning the Hello + Helpline, on the 17th & 18th of November 2009.

The objectives of the two-day training were to:

• Enable the counselors to get information on nutritional intake for PLHAs and diet modifications during opportunistic infections.

• Provide knowledge on basic nutrition to the counselors, who would in their turn provide this information to non-PLHIV callers including many adolescents, who access the helpline.

• Make them aware of the importance of safe drinking water, hygienic cooking and keeping the kitchen workspace clean.

To make sure that the services of the Hello+ helpline would not be affected during the course of the training, a new rotation system was evolved for the training

The participants were divided into two batches. While one batch attended the training for four hours, the second batch would man the helpline. Once the first batch finished with their sessions, the training would be repeated for the second batch, while the first batch would man the helpline. The entire training was divided into four-hour modules, spread over two days.

Power point presentations were designed by APAC, while most of the sessions were adapted from the SAATHII Online Training Module for Nutrition. The FAQs developed by the Regional Centre for Quality of Health Care (RCQHC) were adapted to suit the Indian scenario to enable the counselors answer any question that the caller might ask.

Sessions on nutritional components were conducted with the help of power point presentations. Exercises were part of the session to gauge the participants' comprehension of the subject, enable in-depth understanding and give room for creativity. A pre- and post-session questionnaire helped the trainers determine the usefulness of the sessions. The topics covered during the workshop included:

Definitions of nutritional terminologies, which included:

• Nutrition, Food, Energy, Calories, Diet, Balanced diet,Body Metabolism, Body composition.

• Calories for each food, Energy derivation. Functions of each nutrient.

• Food Sources, Benefits of Empty Calories, Food Pyramid

• Balanced diet / Healthy diet

• Meaning of Recommended Dietary Allowances

• Basal Metabolic Index

• Food safety and hygiene

• Nutrition for PLHIV

• Nutrition during Illness

• Link between HIV and Nutrition

• Nutrition FAQs

The participants were given exercises to work on. Participants from each batch were divided into two groups, and asked to prepare charts on nutritional diet for PLHAs as well as for non positive people, food pyramid which would result in a balanced diet along with the classification of nutrients and food products rich in each nutrient. They were also asked to write down the factors which would affect the nutritional intake of PLHA due to social, economic and programmatic reasons.

The end of the workshop saw a considerable knowledge increase among the Hello+ counselors, with regards to general nutrition and PLHIV nutrition. The FAQs and the question and answer session helped to clear their doubts. In the feedback session the participants said that more time should be dedicated to question and answer sessions and there should be more practical sessions included in the sessions.

The future plans include more training programs for the Hello+ counselors wherein practical sessions for low cost recipe foods would also be considered. It was felt that a session on care and support would be offered first which would enable counselors to guide caregivers into better care of the PLHAs.