Volume 1 • Issue 4 • 1000125 J Trop Dis ISSN: 2329-891X JTD, an open access journal Open Access Alagaw et al., J Trop Dis 2013, 1:4 DOI: 10.4172/2329-891X.1000125 Open Access Research Article Factors Associated with Antiretroviral Treatment Adherence among Adult Patients in Wolaita Soddo Hospital Amsalu Alagaw 1 , Wanzahun Godana 1 *, Mohammed Taha 2 and Tariku Dejene 2 1 Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia 2 School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia *Corresponding author: Wanzahun Godana, Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Tel: 251913689198; E-mail: wanzanati2011@gmail.com Received November 04, 2013; Accepted December 11, 2013; Published December 13, 2013 Citation: Alagaw A, Godana W, Taha M, Dejene T (2013) Factors Associated with Antiretroviral Treatment Adherence among Adult Patients in Wolaita Soddo Hospital. J Trop Dis 1: 125. doi: 10.4172/2329-891X.1000125 Copyright: © 2013 Alagaw A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Keywords: HIV; Adherence; Factors Background Worldwide an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV. Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic in 1981, 25 million people have died of AIDS globally. Every day, there are 7,400 new HIV infections, 96% of which are in the low-and middle-income countries. Africa disproportionately bears the burden of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Although only 11% of the world’s population lives in Africa, roughly 67% of those living with HIV/AIDS are in Africa. In Africa, there were 22.4 million people living with HIV and 1.9 million new HIV infections in 2008 [1,2]. According to the most recent data from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and National projections estimate approximately 1.1 million Ethiopians are living with HIV and prevalence increased slightly to 2.3 percent [3]. In 2009 alone, 43,130 new HIV patients were started on Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART). Likewise the total number of people ever enrolled to chronic HIV care reached to 435,150 by the end of 2009 [1]. With the advent of ART, HIV/AIDS is becoming a chronic disease; therefore adherence to HIV medication is an extremely important but complicated process that needs dedication from patients, sympathetic support from the society, and high level of care from health care professionals [4]. Worldwide, regardless of the illness or treatment many people do not take their medications correctly [5]. A study in Brazil showed that the cumulative incidence of non adherence to be 36.9% [6]. Adherence among patients in Soweto, South Africa was 88% In Cape Town; 63% of patients maintained adherence levels of 90% [7]. Consistent factors for poor adherence include, stress, substance use, regimen complexity, self efcacy for medication taking and depression Social support have also been consistently associated with decreased adherence and a patient who doesn’t have social support is less likely to continue their treatment with optimal requirement [8]. On aggregate, non-adherence to ART is estimated at between 50- 80% in diferent social and cultural settings [9]. With optimal adherence rates, studies by Lewis, Rao and others have demonstrated that ART can suppress the viral load to undetectable levels, boost the immune system by increasing the number of CD-4 cells, and improve the quality of life of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) [9]. Since its introduction about 10 years ago, ART has progressed from a single therapy, to double therapy, and fnally to the current combination therapy commonly known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Terapy (HAART). Tis development was necessitated by the desire to reduce the number of pills taken by the patient in order to foster adherence. Tis was borne out of the realization that adherence rates were inversely proportional to the number of pills, capsules or tablets necessary for treatment [10]. Despite patients’ understanding the consequences of non- adherence to medication, adherence rates were sub optimal [6]. Long- term adherence interventions are needed for durable efect, particularly Abstract Background: HIV a major challenge to the whole world since the last quarter of 20 th century but has become a member of a manageable chronic disease since the advent of ARV drugs. The non-adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy is an emerging major challenge to AIDS care. Objective: To assess factors associated with adherence among AIDS patients receiving Antiretroviral Therapy at Wolaita Soddo Hospital, Southern Ethiopia. Method: A cross sectional study was carried out at Wolaita Soddo Hospital from April 15 to May 15, 2012 E.C. Three hundred and ffty seven HIV/ AIDS patients were involved in the study. The collected data were entered in Epi Info version 3.5.3. Data analyses were done using SPSS for windows version 16.0. Multivariable analyses were applied to identify the relative effect of explanatory variables on the dependent variable. Results: Multi-method adherence assessment consisting of self-report, monthly dispense schedule and dietary requirements, were used to measure adherence and the average adherence rate was 74.4%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, with whom a subject lives (Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR)=4.943,1,(2.168-11.270)), depression (AOR=2.221,1,(1.093-4.515)), and having inadequate diet to take with ART (AOR=2.229,1,(1.034-4.807)), were independent predictors of dose adherence. Conclusions: In conclusion living with a partner, having no depression and having no food scarcity to take with ART have association with adherence to ART regimens. Journal of Tropical Diseases J o u r n a l o f T r o p i c a l D i s e a s e s ISSN: 2329-891X