Nutrition and peer support for HIV+ patients

Our Nutrition and Peer Support Program was created to foster a support group among HIV+ patients. Several of the patients cook food together, and enjoy a collaboration of meals that allows them a stress-free and accepting environment that aids in reducing the stigma around HIV. It also allows them to serve their community by serving meals to clinic patients in Sikoro. 

GAIA Vaccine Foundation’s HIV-care clinic is located within a government run community clinic and supports a growing group of impoverished patients who live on the outskirts of Bamako. Our organization provides both care and education for individuals living with HIV, which helps dually in reducing the stigma around the virus, as well as improving HIV prevention in the village. 

By purchasing meals from our patients and sharing it amongst the doctors, families, and peer groups alike, the fear and unknown around HIV dissipates, and bonding within the community is fortified. Proper nutrition is also vital for the health of our HIV+ patients.

None of this would be possible without your continuous support. It is with the help of your generous donations that we move closer to achieving our goals. With a donation of $10, you would be providing one weekly meal for one HIV+ patient. With a donation of $30, you would be providing one weekly meal for a mother and three children. With a generous donation of $100, you would be providing a weekly meal for OVER 25 people! We thank you for your support as we continue on our mission to reduce the incidence of infectious disease that disproportionately affects the underserved.

The Nutrition and Peer Support program has provided a connection between patients living far away from clinics and their access to specialized HIV care. GAIA Vaccine Foundation’s HIV clinic is based in a community clinic, and is growing to serve an increasing number of impoverished patients who live in this small village on the outskirts of Mali’s capital, Bamako. 

Through this program, GAIA Vaccine Foundation offers care and education to remote patients seeking aid. The program’s overall initiative is to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV, as well as improving HIV prevention in the village. 

The Nutrition and Peer Support Program supports food made by patients themselves, with the goal of reducing the stigma surrounding HIV positive individuals. This meal is then shared between staff, patients, and family to promote social interaction, reduce stigma and improve nutritional status. Our program would not be possible without your continued donations- $10 would provide one weekly meal for one HIV+ patient, $30 would provide one weekly meal for one mother and three children, and with a donation of $100, you would be providing a weekly meal for over 25 HIV+ patients. We thank you for your continued generosity.