B-FED aims to reduce food insecurity to improve patient health outcomes and provide a long-lasting foundation of nutrition and culinary education.Food insecurity is highly prevalent among people with HIV, and clinicians with the University of Alabama at Birmingham in partnership with Birmingham AIDS Outreach are making efforts to fill those nutritional needs.
Utilizing funds through the 340B Drug Pricing Program, the BAO Food and Education Delivery Program, or B-FED, provides patients with HIV with either monthly food boxes, supplements when medically needed, meal delivery, or nutrition and food safety education. UAB 1917 Clinic dietitians and social workers follow up with patients to ensure the prescription is meeting medical and social needs.
“We see high levels of food insecurity in the South, and people with HIV have higher risk for food insecurity compared to the general population,” said Amanda Willig, Ph.D., associate professor with the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases and UAB’s coordinator of B-FED. “UAB has long been a trailblazer in HIV treatment innovation, and reducing food insecurity removes a critical barrier that could prevent the patient from receiving that care.
B-FED aims to reduce food insecurity to improve patient health outcomes and provide a long-lasting foundation of nutrition and culinary education.
Willig adds that, when the stress of not knowing where one’s next meal is coming from is removed, a person can better focus on their medical care and other health needs.
“Food insecurity can lead to worse health outcomes, missed medication doses and falling out of care when activities needed to obtain food cannot accommodate medical appointments,” she said.
During the last five years, B-FED has served nearly 2,000 people experiencing food insecurity and living with HIV. Willig says patients have been highly supportive of the B-FED program.
“The patients have emphasized that the attention that goes into providing quality nutrition leaves them feeling that BAO and the 1917 Clinic respect them as individuals,” Willig said. “They particularly appreciate the access to fresh/frozen produce and education focused around using foodstuffs provided in monthly boxes. Patients have specifically mentioned that their confidence in the kitchen is higher and extended family members have complimented their skills after taking cooking classes with B-FED Coordinator and Chef Joshua Glenn.”