Nutritional Management in HIV-Infected Pediatric Populations
Summary
The nutritional care of children living with HIV is central to optimising growth, immune function and long-term development. HIV infection in childhood compounds the risk of malnutrition through mechanisms such as increased nutrient requirements, malabsorption, opportunistic infections and socioeconomic vulnerability. Effective management encompasses early diagnosis of nutritional deficits, routine anthropometric monitoring, integration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) with tailored dietary support, micronutrient supplementation and interventions to promote feeding frequency and dietary diversity. Programmes emphasise multidisciplinary approaches, combining clinical, community and caregiver education to address both acute malnutrition and chronic growth failure. Robust nutritional surveillance, adapted to regional food availability and guided by World Health Organization standards, underpins the timely identification of stunting, wasting and underweight. Integration of healthy-habits counselling and physical activity guidance further refines management strategies and supports metabolic health. Ongoing research highlights the need for context-specific protocols, strengthened food security measures and intersectoral partnerships to mitigate the dual burden of HIV and malnutrition in paediatric populations worldwide.
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Nutritional Management in HIV-Infected Pediatric Populations publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in nutritional management in hiv-infected pediatric populations across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Stunting: Impaired linear growth indicated by a height-for-age Z-score below −2 standard deviations.
Wasting: Acute malnutrition marked by a weight-for-height Z-score below −2 standard deviations.
Underweight: Low weight relative to age, defined by a weight-for-age Z-score below −2 standard deviations.
Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ): A standardised measure comparing a child’s height with a reference population of the same age and sex.
Body mass index-for-age Z-score (BAZ): A standardised index comparing a child’s BMI with a reference population of the same age and sex.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART): Combination medication regimens designed to suppress HIV replication and restore immune function.
Dietary diversity: A measure of the number of different food groups consumed over a reference period, reflecting nutrient adequacy.
References
- Growth and body composition of adolescents and young adults with perinatal HIV infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health (2025).
- Influence of Healthy Habits Counseling on Biochemical and Metabolic Parameters in Children and Adolescents with HIV: Longitudinal Study. Nutrients (2021).
- Magnitude of underweight, wasting and stunting among HIV positive children in East Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE (2020).
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