Home Artificial Nutrition (HAN) Awareness Week

Home Artificial Nutrition (HAN) Awareness Week is an annual opportunity* to highlight the thousands of adults and children in the UK who rely on artificial nutrition at home. Whether through oral nutrition support (e.g. nutritional drinks), enteral nutrition (tube feeding) or parenteral nutrition (intravenous feeding), HAN helps people stay nourished and well enough to live their lives beyond hospital.
 
HAN is a life-saving, life-changing treatment, yet it remains largely unrecognised. People may not realise it is a treatment at all, and when they notice tubes or equipment, assumptions can be wrong. Many people only hear about HAN when they or someone they love needs it. This week aims to change that by raising awareness, challenging stigma and celebrating the resilience of the HAN community.

What is Home Artificial Nutrition?
  

Home Artificial Nutrition provides essential nutrition when eating and drinking normally is not possible or not safe. It includes:

• Oral Nutrition Support (ONS) – nutritional drinks, powders or supplements used when a person can eat but cannot meet their needs through food alone. It may be used on its own or alongside other nutrition support.
• Enteral Nutrition (EN) – liquid feed delivered through a tube into the stomach or small bowel (intestine).

Parenteral Nutrition (PN) – nutrition and fluids delivered directly into the bloodstream via a central venous catheter (parenteral support).                       

People may need HAN due to intestinal failure,  Crohn’s disease, gastroparesis, cancer, severe malabsorption, surgical complications, neurological conditions or stroke, among  others. For some, HAN is short term; for others, it may be longer term or lifelong.
 
What unites everyone on HAN is this: it is not a choice – it is a lifeline. 

Why HAN Awareness Matters

 
Although life-sustaining, HAN is often invisible. Tubes and lines are usually under clothing, and much of the day-to-day work happens behind closed doors. The emotional, physical and financial realities are not widely understood.
Raising awareness helps:

• Reduce stigma so no one feels judged for using medical nutrition.
• Improve understanding so friends, employers, schools and communities can offer better support.
• Highlight real challenges, from supplies and coordination to the ongoing workload of care.
• Celebrate the strength, humour and resilience of people living with HAN.
• Support better care and services because awareness drives change.

What People on HAN Want You to Know                                       

 
Drawing on years of stories shared during past HAN Weeks:

• HAN is not “giving up” – it is a treatment that supports recovery and sustains life.
• You cannot always see illness. Many people on HAN look well while managing complex, exhausting conditions.
• It is not only medical – confidence, identity and social life can be affected too.
• With the right support, HAN can restore possibilities: work, school, parenting, hobbies and joy.
• Families, partners and carers matter too – their support helps make care at home possible. They too should be heard and supported.

How You Can Get Involved

 
Whether you are on HAN, care for someone who is, or simply want to support the community, there are many ways to take part.

• Share your story: personal experiences change perceptions. Share on social media or with PINNT by emailing comms@pinnt.com.
• Start conversations: talk about HAN at work, school or in your community.
• Challenge misconceptions: if you hear myths (e.g. “tube feeding is only for end of life”), gently correct them.
• Celebrate the wins: share what living with HAN looks like, and moments made possible by nutrition support.

Support PINNT’s work

 
PINNT has supported the HAN community for nearly 40 years through peer support, advocacy and practical resources. Your engagement and donations help grow this work.
 
*Usually in August, but in 2027 it will be in June.