Assessment of Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy Among Adult People Living with HIV/AIDS in North East, Ethiopia

Back ground The scale-up of anti retroviral treatment is among the greatest successes of the global Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes (AIDS) response to date and it is on a Fast-Track- approach. To contribute to the global and local target of HIV /AIDS response as well as to obtain full benefits of ART medication, strong adherence of ≥95% to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) is needed. Methods A cross-sectional study among 352 and 20 study participants for quantitative and for in-depth interview respectively. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire with a face-to-face interview for quantitative and interview guide for the in-depth interview. Bivariate and Multivariable logistic analysis was applied to examine the association between the dependent and independent variables. Additionally, thematic analysis, interpretation and triangulation of the finding were done for in-depth-interview. Results A total of 352 people living with HIV/AIDS were responded to the study with 90% response rate. Of the total 352 respondents 87.2% were adherent and the overall adherence level was found to be 95%. The study revealed factors associated to adherence to ART were marital status(AOR:4.4;95%CI:1.3-14.7), use of memory aids (AOR:6.5;95%CI:2.6-16.2) Living condition (AOR: 2.9;95%CI: 1.1-7.6), Experienced side effect (AOR: 4.6;95%CI;1.9-11.3),drug regimen (AOR: 5.5; 95%CI: 1.4-22.3) and distance in km (AOR:2.7;95% CI; 1.11-6.4). Conclusion Patient counselling, health education and health system strengthening are very important for improvement of ART drug adherence.