On Dec. 1, we will observe World AIDS Day, a time for us to honor the lives affected by the epidemic and renew our commitment to bring an end to HIV. Since our founding in 1990, Mama’s Kitchen has seen incredible progress made in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS.
Our services have changed with the epidemic — from a time of medical uncertainty, when nourishment and comfort food was our organization’s highest priority, to today, when Mama’s Kitchen’s medically tailored meals support thriving and aging with HIV. There is so much to celebrate!
Yet a new kind of uncertainty that we couldn’t expect now challenges the hard-won progress of the last four decades — in both medical advances and stigma reduction — and it will take our whole community to hold the line.
Thirty-five years ago, community members living with HIV/AIDS faced intense stigma and isolation. Organizations like ours existed out of necessity to offer community and to ensure that no one living with AIDS would face malnutrition due to their illness.
A core belief emerged — that the epidemic needed to be confronted with dignity, compassion and tenacity. Today, though serious strides have been made in nearly all aspects of the field, you only need to speak with neighbors living with HIV to learn how the current environment is again creating a sense of isolation and stigma.
Policy changes at the federal level have cut funding to support HIV prevention, reduced staffing to support HIV monitoring programs, and ended global support for HIV/AIDS programs. Beyond direct HIV funding reductions, there are cuts to food and housing support programs alongside increases in the cost of health insurance.
Together, this is creating a perfect storm of need for people living with HIV who face financial hardship. Mama’s Kitchen believes that everyone is entitled to the basic necessity of life –nutritious food — and no one should have to choose between paying rent and a nutritious meal.
The epidemic’s history has shown the need to meet people where they are, to find where there are gaps in support, and fill those gaps. We can still learn from the early years to keep us from backsliding. Services like medically tailored meals have long been a part of HIV/AIDS treatment, and it’s more important than ever to support these types of programs to help those living with AIDS feel cared for, seen and welcomed.
Research shows that widespread adoption of medically tailored meal programs reduces hospitalizations, improves disease management, and lessens burden on the healthcare system, ultimately leading to lower costs for everyone. As one of the first organizations to be accredited by the Food is Medicine Coalition as a medically tailored meal provider, and as a leader in the food is medicine field, Mama’s Kitchen has seen firsthand the effect of a supportive, nutrient-dense diet for people living with HIV/AIDS. Moreover, in today’s economic environment, many people living with HIV/AIDS are facing food insecurity and are at greater risk of hunger and malnutrition.
Despite the progress we’ve made, both in ending the epidemic and improving healthy food support, the need for services like Mama’s Kitchen is growing. The entire community needs to rally in support of our neighbors living with HIV/AID — to offer friendship, compassion and paths to get extra support.
Contact your elected representatives to express your support for HIV/AIDS-related program funding, and for policy that stabilizes access to food and housing. Be vocal in your support for neighbors living with HIV. Become a champion for the food is medicine movement. Financially support organizations that assist people living with HIV. Whatever you choose to do, your actions will make a difference. Your voice and your support matter.
We’ve come too far from the early days of the AIDS epidemic to regress now. I urge you, in honor of World AIDS Day, to do what you can to remind people how close we are to ending this epidemic, and to take steps to sustain the forward momentum.
Eva Matthews is the CEO of Mama’s Kitchen. She resides in North Park.
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