Publications

Globally, there were an estimated 33 million people living with HIV by the end of 2007, andmore than 25 million people since 1981 have died from AIDS. In 2007 there were 2.7 millionnew infections and 2 million HIV-related deaths. All these facts are attributed to thecompromise of adherence to ART. Currently, there are an estimated 940,000 people (adultsand children) living with HIV in Uganda but the adherence levels are hence posing a greatchallenge in the fight against the scourge. To assess factors influencing adherence to ARTamong HIV/AIDS clients at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, a descriptivecross-sectional study design quantitative in nature was used to recruit 52 respondents forthe study out of whom 52 questionnaires thus giving a response rate of 100%. 75% of therespondents strongly agreed that level of income may influence adherence to ART, 57% ofthe respondents agreed that drug hypersensitivity and side effects affect adherence to ARTand 63.5% of the respondents agreed that clinic characteristics can impact adherence. Theresearcher concluded that client-related factors influencing adherence to ART include theclient’s age, level of education, level of income, social support, co-morbidities, and patient’sbelief about the effectiveness of ART. Therapy-related factors affecting adherence to ARTinclude; polypharmacy, hypersensitivity, pill burden, and regimen complexity. Healthsystem-related factors affecting adherence to ART include; clinic characteristics, selfmedication,lengthy wait before the next clinic visit, and the patient-provider relationship.