Predictors of Poor Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment among HIV Positive Patients at Tamale West Hospital, Ghana

Background: Adherence to Antiretroviral therapy is necessary to reduce the viral load of people diagnosed with HIV and help boost the persons’ immunity against opportunistic infections due to the virus. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of adherence to ART and its associated factors among HIV clients at the Tamale west hospital.

Methods: The current study employed a descriptive study design, and sampled a total of 104 clients receiving ART in the Tamale West Hospital in the Northern Region of Ghana.

Results: The results showed that weekly adherence was 94.2%, monthly adherence (76%), quarterly adherence (71%), half yearly adherence (51.9%) and only 33.7% have religiously adhered to ART medication from the initiation of their treatment. The treatment profile of the clients revealed that the majority of them (44.7%) had been receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for a duration of 5 years. Additionally, 25.2% had been on ART for 1 year, while 22.3% had been on the treatment for a period ranging from 6 to 10 years. Educational level [(CI: -0.101, 0.001), p<0.052], forgetfulness [(CI: 0.186, 0.581), p<0.001], side effects [(CI: 0.072, 0.400), p<0.005], education on medication [(CI: 0.015, 0.540), p<0.038], confidentiality of services [(CI: 0.012, 0.543), p<0.041], and cost of transportation to treatment centre [(CI: 0.006, 0.167), p<0.035] were significantly associated with treatment adherence to ART among the clients.

Conclusions: The adherence rate as determined in the current study did not meet the expected target set by the Ghana National AIDS control programme. A continuous friendly ART services and an intervention to cater for the transport cost of clients would have helped improve adherence among the study clients.