12.23.2010

Delivering Nutrition That Saves Lives

On Monday, we wrote about the cutbacks in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Tens of thousands of low-income Americans with HIV/AIDS depend on this program to receive their proper medications and remain healthy. The cutbacks will prevent many from receiving drugs on a consistent basis.

While the importance of drugs can never be overstated, the nutritious meals of Moveable Feast do their part to help combat HIV and AIDS in Maryland.


A Person Living With AIDS has an undue amount of stress related to their condition. They must deal with huge medical bills (see: Costs of HIV Treatment) and other incidental costs. Their immune systems are often compromised, placing them at greater risk for opportunistic infections and hospitalizations. They suffer from uncomfortable and painful side effects from the treatment, such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, aches/pain, constipation, and loss of appetite. They are at great risk for wasting syndrome, a severe loss in body mass.


Moveable Feast services help our clients cope with their condition - physically, mentally, and financially. Providing meals and groceries at no cost helps to defer some of the financial burden. It also relieves them of that extra task each day - finding breakfast, lunch, and dinner isn't always so simple, especially for one who is weakened by HIV/AIDS. And nutritious meals, tailored to a client's dietary needs, reduce the chance that the client will develop wasting syndrome or fall into an unhealthy body weight.


With these cutbacks in ADAP and the FDA's new uncertainty about the Avastin drug, Moveable Feast's stalwart dependability has never been so important to our clients.

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