What Can One Garden Do? Addressing Nutrition Needs, Adherence Levels and Empowering Communities in Kafue, Zambia

New initiatives are making anti-retroviral therapy(ART) more accessible in Zambia but for those who simultaneously suffer from HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition more than just ART is needed. Patients who start ART when they are malnourished are six times more likely to die prematurely. Through building community gardens with ART support groups, Development in Gardening(DIG) has created a sustainable model to increase nutrition, improve physical health and increase community capital in our participants.

Our study looked at a garden intervention at Kafue District Hospital(KDH) in Zambia. Primarily developed by the ART support group, the KDH garden also has a portion designated for mothers involved in prevention of mother to child transmission(PMTCT) activities. Participants developed the garden, learned diversification and intensification agricultural techniques, and received nutrition and cooking trainings. The garden produces enough produce for participants to feed their families and sell surplus at local markets.

From continual monitoring and evaluation of our program, including hospital records, surveys and interviews, we found that our participants had 1) an increased intake of nutritious foods, 2) improved community capital measured through social capital indicators, and 3) greater involvement in PLWHA support groups and hospital activities.

Our study implicates that through a more holistic intervention we can create greater community cohesion and access to nutritious foods as well as better involvement and health outcomes of PLWHA. We believe participants had an increase in the level of adherence to ART through our garden intervention and plan to evaluate the program for this indicator in the future.