WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Mohamed Muze Edris, Yohanes Belachew, Emebet Teshager, Mohamed Kedir Shafi, Asrat Meleko Mara*, Rahel Yaekob

ABSTRACT

Background: HIV/AIDS is considered to be a major threat to the world’s population, to its overall social, economic, and political wellbeing, as well as to the individual’s health. However, the introduction of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) has transformed HIV infection into a chronic manageable disease, with a major impact on the quality of life and prospects for extended survival in PLWHA. Non-adherence to ART, likewise, is common in all groups of treated individuals and lack of strict adherence to ART is considered to be one of the key challenges to AIDS care worldwide. Thus adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is crucial to ensure viral suppression, decrease the risk of disease progression and drug resistance. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess magnitude and predictors of ART adherence among adult PLWHA in Mizan Tepi University Teaching Hospital, South Western Ethiopia. Methods and materials: Hospital based cross-sectional study using quantitative methods was conducted in Mizan Tepi University Teaching hospital from January to August 2017. Data was collected using interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Collected data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 computer software packages. Results: In this study a total of 245 PLWHA were included. Of the total study participants, 61.2% of them reported more than 95% adherence to antiretroviral treatment. It was found that religion (p?0.000) and duration of taking ART (p?0.031) was significantly associated with adherence to antiretroviral treatment. Conclusion and recommendation: The finding of this study revealed that adherence level to ART was slightly lower than other findings obtained from a finding obtained in other parts of the country. Therefore, it is better to apply various methods to improve current adherence level to ART among adult PLWHA in Mizan Tepi University Teaching Hospital.