Factors associated with antiretroviral treatment default at Citimed Hospital, Zimbabwe

Abstract

While the HIV prevalence rate in Zimbabwe dropped from 24 to 14%, a lot of people continue to live with the virus. Anti-retro Viral Treatment was introduced in the country to prolong lives. The objectives of the study were to determine the factors associated with antiretroviral treatment (ART) default at Citimed hospital, establish the causes of default and to ascertain clients’ knowledge about the importance of adhering to ART. This was necessitated by a preliminary analysis of the 2015 data at Citimed hospital which revealed that out of 1200 clients who had registered for ART, about 10% of the clients had defaulted treatment since 2013, when it opened its doors to cater for ART clients. This raised a lot of concern among ART clinic programme managers on why that was happening. A quantitative research was conducted. Respondents were identified using systematic random sampling to come up with a sample size of 60 respondents. A structured questionnaire was used for data gathering. Results are presented in tables and pie-charts as well as narratives for descriptive statistics. The major findings included lack of transport to visit the hospital, time constraints as the employee could not be readily released from work to visit the hospital, unemployment resulting in lack of funds and knowledge deficit. The major recommendations to the ART facilities included implementation of the multi-disciplinary centred approach, establishing patient education programmes and patient support.

Keywords: Anti-retroviral treatment, defaulted, treatment adherence.