Introduction: Globally 78 million peoples are living with HIV/AIDS. Ethiopia has one of the highest populations of HIV infected people in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The relationship between HIV epidemic and food security situation in Ethiopia is complex, it is likely that the epidemic will contribute to worsening widespread food insecurity. The aim of this study is to assess the level of food security and associated factors among adult people living with HIV /AIDS attending ART Clinic at the Hawassa city Hospital Administration.
Methodology: This is an institutional based cross-sectional study that was conducted from October to December 2017. Systematic sampling technique was used to select a total of 532 study participant. Data entry was done with EPI-info version 3.5.3 and transferred into SPSS Version 20. Crude with adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval at p- value < 0.05were computed to examine statistical significance.
Results: Based on food security assessment core module scale 360, (67.3%) PLWHA were food insecure. PLWHA who disclose HIV status were 3.9 (AOR=3.902, 95% CI (1.238, 12.301) times more likely to be food secured compared with those who did not disclose. Subjects with Low Dietary Diversity were 4.69 times less likely to be food secured than those with high dietary diversity AOR=4.696, 95% CI (1.536, 14.356).
Conclusions: Food Security status among PLWHA on ART in Hawassa town was low. Dietary diversity, household size, and disclosing HIV status were found to be significant predictors of food security.
Keywords: Food security, disclosures, Household size.