BREASTFEEDING PRACTICES AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN BORN TO MOTHERS LIVING WITH HIV THE CASE OF KAWAALA HEALTH CENTER IV, WAKISO DISTRICT Musiime Lutgard and Peter M. Rukundo Background The HIV pandemic has negatively affected breastfeeding practices Mothers are faced with a dilemma of competing dangers There is a risk of mother-to-child transmission through breastfeeding On the other hand there is a risk of undesirable consequences if a child is not breastfed. Prevalence of HIV in Uganda is at 7.3% and it affects 93% adults 15 years and above with 56% of them being women. Recommended practice Option B+ is recommended throughout pregnancy. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended during the first six months of life and continuous breastfeeding for at least 12 months Recommended practice Specific objectives Identify the common Infant and Young Child Feeding practices used by women living with HIV. Assess child nutrition status in households with mothers with HIV/AIDS. Explore the socio-economic and cultural factors that influence breastfeeding and child nutritional status in households with women living with HIV/AIDS. Methodology Cross-sectional design Both qualitative and quantitative approaches Involved simple random sampling upon ethical approval from KCCA 60 mothers with children under the age 6-59 months were sampled on 3 randomly selected days Used a semi-structured questionnaire Nutrition status of the children was assessed using anthropometric indices The study was performed in a period of 3 months. Results Indicators for continued breastfeeding were percentage of exclusively breastfed children and the age at which mothers introduce other feeds other than breast milk. Exclusive breastfeeding was practiced by 46.7% of mothers Complementary feeding by 36.7% Replacement feeding by 13.3% Mixed feeding by 3.3% Of all the mothers interviewed, only 4 fed their children with all the 5 food groups. Results contd 18 of the 24 working mothers had stopped exclusive breastfeeding due to job-related challenges Child nutritional status Underweight at 1.7% Wasting at 6.7% Stunting at 20% Recommended 5 food groups source: UGAN Conclusion Unlike wasting, levels of exclusive breastfeeding were lower than the national average Undernutrition was mostly noted during complementation It was noted that Option B+ was the emphasised option for PMTCT and majority of the mothers knew or had heard about it. Recommendation Given the implications on policy, sub-optimal breastfeeding practices risk exacerbating morbidity in HIV/AIDS Interventions to scale-up nutrition in HIV/AIDS are of the essence to reduce the apparent undernutrition risk Organise regular group support meetings for women who live in the same work and social milieu to share strategies with each other on the challenges they face most especially in the context of HIV/AIDS. Teach working mothers how balance their work and the feeding time of their children so that they can exclusively breastfeed their children up to 6 months even when they are working. THANK YOU