KIU, Western Campus – Emmanuel Gutaka, the Deputy Principal Nursing Officer (DPNO) at KIU Teaching Hospital has this year consistently published researches in various journals about medical phenomena at KIU Teaching Hospital.

This time round, he has published his latest research titled, “Prevalence and Factors Associated With Non-Adherence To Antiretroviral Therapy Among Adults Attending The HIV/AIDS Clinic At Kampala International University Teaching Hospital,” which was published in the Journal of Bio Innovation.

According to Gutaka, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with non-adherence to anti- retroviral therapy among Adults attending the HIV/AIDS clinic at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital.

The research notes that despite sustainable global scale-up of antiretroviral therapy, adherence to therapy remains low.

 Less than half of those in HIV care in Uganda achieve 85% adherence to their ART medication required for clinically meaningful viral suppression, leaving them at higher risk of transmission.

A quantitative cross-sectional study employed simple random sampling among 300 adults obtaining anti- retroviral therapy at the HIV/AIDS clinic at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital.

The majority - 150(50.0%) were aged 18-35 years, 178(59.3) were females, 207(68.9%) were unemployed, many 131(43.8%) were catholic, many 107(35.7%) were of primary level of education, and lastly majority 175(58.3%) were married.

It found that the prevalence of non-adherence to anti-retroviral therapy at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital was 19%.

It also revealed that the prevalence of non-adherence to anti- retroviral therapy among adults attending the HIV/AIDS clinic at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital is relatively high.

According to biomedcentral, incomplete adherence to HIV/AIDS treatment leads to immune suppression and the selection drug resistant HIV. Non-adherence also increases HIV-related morbidity and mortality.

This study will go a long way in addressing issues regarding non-adherence to anti-retroviral treatment among adults attending the HIV/AIDS clinic at KIU Teaching Hospital

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