IMPROVING THE PERCEPTION AND ADHERENCE TO ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPY AMONG PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN ENUGU METROPOLIS, ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

A health education intervention was carried out among 312 persons living with HIV/AIDS receiving ART in Enugu metropolis to improve their perception and adherence to antiretroviral therapy. The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge of HIV disease, availability of ART, attitude to use and adherence practice among persons living with HIV/AIDs in Enugu metropolis.
At baseline, the study and control groups had a comparable knowledge of the nature of HIV/AIDS disease and availability of different drugs for its management. Most of the respondents in both groups knew that AIDs is a serious disease and that HIV person can live an active or fulfilling life once on an anti-retroviral treatment. There was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) in the knowledge of the basic facts of HIV/AIDs disease between the study and control group pre-intervention. However, after the intervention, the study group had a tremendous improvement in the knowledge of HIV/AIDs disease and its management, unlike the control group.
The most occurring single reason given by the respondents in both groups for poor adherence to ART was forgetfulness (65.4% for study and 69.9% for control groups). Drug resistance (48.1% for study and 57.1% for
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control group) and worsening of HIV/AIDS diseases (67% for study and 63% for control groups) were also identified as the most significant consequences of poor adherence to ART by both groups. The observed difference in the knowledge of the factors and consequences of poor adherence to ART between the study and control groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05) at baseline. However, a highly statistically significant difference (P=0.000) was observed between the study and control groups after the intervention and between the study group before and after the intervention.
In this study adherence to ART improved from 42.3% pre-intervention to 81.4% post-intervention. The respondents in both the study and control groups pre-intervention had a negative attitude to the use and efficacy of anti-retroviral therapy in prolonging life. However, this negative attitude reduced tremendously among the study group after the intervention with a highly statistically significant difference (P<0.001) when compared with the control group.
In conclusion, this intervention study has demonstrated the effectiveness of intensive health education in improving the perception and knowledge of persons living with HIV/AIDS about the disease and also in enhancing their adherence to ART.

IMPROVING THE PERCEPTION AND ADHERENCE TO ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPY AMONG PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN ENUGU METROPOLIS, ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA