House Approves First Federal Legislation to Include Nutrition Programs in International HIV/AIDS Programs

The House of Representatives passed landmark legislation on May 1 when it approved a five-year, $15 billion package to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries. The American Soybean Association (ASA) supports the legislation and is calling for Congress to fully fund it. This is the first federal legislation to recognize the importance of integrating nutrition into international HIV/AIDS programs, and it would triple U.S. funding for international HIV/AIDS efforts.

House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) had introduced the bill, H.R. 1298, and included provisions that call for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to recognize that malnutrition exacerbates HIV/AIDS. Good nutrition is also key for drug treatments to work. Therefore, the legislation calls for USAID to support food and nutrition programs for HIV/AIDS patients and for children in households affected by HIV/AIDS.

On March 1 at their annual meeting, American Soybean Association members voted to support HIV/AIDS legislation that addressed nutritional needs of HIV/AIDs patients. “This legislation shows the awakening among national and international leaders that HIV/AIDS needs a strong response and that proper nutrition needs to be part of that response,” said a soybean grower. “We are pleased that soybean growers launched the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) Program in 2000 so that U.S. soy can play a role in helping counter HIV/AIDS that is threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of people around the world.”

Senate leaders have indicated they want to have their version of the HIV/AIDS bill approved by Memorial Day. President Bush had called for an HIV/AIDS Emergency Plan in January during his State of the Union Address. On April 29, he rallied Congress for support of the legislation and said, “In the three months since I announced the emergency plan, an estimated 760,000 people have died from AIDS, 1.2 million people have been infected, more than 175,000 babies have been born with the virus. Time is not on our side.”

The House-approved legislation also included an amendment by Representative Frank Ballance (D-NC) that cited the importance of nutrition, particularly protein, for people with HIV/AIDS. Soy is recognized as a key ingredient in nutrition programs for people with HIV/AIDS. According to the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) monograph on nutritional guidelines in the care of HIV-infected persons, calorie needs may increase 10-15% while protein requirements jump to 50-100% higher than for uninfected persons.

“Even when consumed in small doses, soy may be ideally suited to help nutritional requirements for high-quality protein, calories and more. Soy foods also comes in many forms and concentrations, which makes it one of the easiest ways to increase protein in locally preferred diets,” said HIV-Specialist Dietitian and WISHH Consultant Cade Fields-Gardner who was in Africa for WISHH at the time of the legislation’s approval.

Because of soy’s important role in improving nutritional profiles of international diets, the American Soybean Association, the United Soybean Board, and state soybean organizations launched WISHH. The initiative is helping America’s soybean growers build more bridges between America’s bounty and sustainable nutrition programs in countries where rapidly growing populations of all income levels can benefit from soy in their diets.