Article

Factors influencing adherence to antiretroviral therapy among youth aged 15-35yrs accessing health care from Ober health center IV, lira city

Abstract

The global Adherence rates ranges from 28.3 to 69.8% which indicated poor Adherence to ART among youth. In Uganda, a recent systematic review and met analysis about Adherence to ART among Youths 12 to 35 years reported only 62.3% to have good Adherence, which is far below the global targets. Low adherence has been recorded in Kenya among youth’s disclosure and stigmatization, pill burden, medication fatigue, lack of planning when travelling, and using Adherence as leverage in conflicts. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing adherence to anti-retroviral therapy among youth age (15-35 years) accessing health care from Ober health center IV in Lira city west division. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design using the quantitative data collection tools. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 at univarite and bi-variate using chi-square test at 95% confident interval. The study found out that the level of Adherence to ART among youth aged (15-35 years) accessing health care from Ober health center IV was low. This was evidenced by only 23% of the participants achieved 95% adherence and 77% of the study participants were found making below 95% adherence records. On the issues of factors influencing adherence to ART, both qualitative and quantitative findings revealed that factors such as fear, lack of adolescent friendly services, stigma and discrimination, distance to the health facility, cultural believes, peer pressure and negligence among youth were influencing adherence to ART. In conclusion, the level of Adherence to anti-retroviral therapy was very low and numerous factors both at the community and health facility were found to be influencing adherence to ART among youths. Therefore, provision of youth-friendly services at the facility and community based approaches is the priority in promoting adherence to ART among youth.

Keywords: Adherence, Antiretroviral therapy, Adolescents